Solar panels coming down at D-M are only those at private housing complex

A group of “hundreds and hundreds” of solar panels that served a private subdivision on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was torn down because the panels “had reached the end of their operational lifespan,” a spokesman for the company managing the housing said.

The panels sat for 15 years in an open field just south of Golf Links Road at the base’s northern boundary. The panels were serving the homes as part of an agreement between the owner of the 1,159-home Soaring Heights Communities on base and Tesla, said Lisa DeCambra, a senior marketing manager for Centinel, the company that owns the project.

The development originally had a leasing agreement to operate the panels with longtime solar energy company Solar City, but Tesla acquired Solar City in 2016.

The solar panels that were removed have been decommissioned and the company doesn’t have “current plans” to replace them, DeCambra said.

The panels’ removal doesn’t affect the much larger solar array that Davis-Monthan itself commissioned and had built on 170 acres on the base’s west side in the early 2010s, said DeCambra and Capt. Mallory Ambrose, a Davis-Monthan spokeswoman. That array was built in 2012, around the same time that the Soaring Heights Communities had its own solar panels installed.

Any solar panels that are part of Davis-Monthan-built infrastructure aren’t affected, Ambrose said.

The panels’ removal “dumbfounded” Matt Somers, a longtime Tucsonan who regularly drives Golf Links Road, he said. He’s concerned the panels’ removal and non-replacement will likely put more pressure on the region’s electric grid that’s operated by Tucson Electric Power, he said.

“When I look at the solar panels I see that the military is trying to use renewable energy which I think is a good idea so as not to put such a load on our electric grid,” Somers said.

“When I saw last Friday that the panels were mostly down, and people were working to get rid of the panels, I could not believe they were being taken down. I would hope there would be new panels put up to continue to have renewable energy.”

McCambra said Soaring Heights Communities continues to advance sustainability and energy efficiency through other initiatives. They include installing rooftop solar panels and a recent partnership with TRO Energy Solutions to provide in-home EV charging for the subdivision.

“We remain committed to supporting energy efficiency initiatives that benefit both our residents and the broader community,” McCambra said.

Centinel has overseen one of the largest military housing privatization portfolios in the U.S., the company said. It includes 10 housing communities and more than 70 hotels across 26 states and Puerto Rico. The properties serve more than 3.7 million service members, families and guests, DeCambra said.