Why doesn't Arizona use solar power?

[atlaw]

Solar, at this point, is just not worth the cost and would not exist without subsidies. It needs a scientific breakthrough to work

[rambrush]

Well the Kingman plant has been made official. See if it makes it through the process

Grey Hawk Solar seeks the rezoning of roughly 1,550 acres located off the west side of Route 66, about three miles south of Valle Vista. If approved, the land would rezone from agriculture/residential to an energy/solar overlay in order to build a photovoltaic solar energy facility that would generate 70 megawatts.

While the firm seeks to rezone roughly 2.5 square miles, the actual solar array would be constructed on no more than 800 acres, well more than a square mile, with the remaining land used as a buffer.

The company already has a 20-year power purchase agreement with UniSource Energy.

Fall groundbreaking

Houston-based Torch Clean Energy is the parent company of Grey Hawk Solar. Company President Jon Kilberg in an interview said if all goes as planned, groundbreaking will occur in the fall. He said he has heard concerns from some residents who fear the project will present an eyesore to residents of Valle Vista, but he doubts they will even see it from the community.

"There will be no towers, no reflection," said Kilberg. "There is no structure taller than a house."

Photovoltaic solar arrays have no emissions and create little noise. They also have little impact on traffic, once construction is done, and no public infrastructure services will be required. Importantly, the project will use no water other than what is needed to periodically wash the panels - and that water will be trucked to the site.

Power for 14,000 homes

According to the proposal to supervisors, the project would produce enough electricity to provide power to more than 14,000 homes in the county. This in turn would help the county reach its goal of encouraging home and business owners to use alternative energy sources as outlined in the Mohave County General Plan. Ratepayers also will benefit, said Kilberg. So will Mohave County.

"We'll pay tens of millions of dollars in property taxes over the life of the project, but we will take no county services," said Kilberg.

While solar plants don't require much of a workforce to operate, Grey Hawk Solar said roughly 300 people will be hired for the construction phase, with half of them local. The company expects to generate about $5 million in Kingman over the 6- to 9-month construction timeline, in terms of room rentals, food and fuel. Once the operation goes live, it will maintain a workforce of at least three full-time employees, said Kilberg.

Location, location, location

The site is surrounded by empty desert, which solar plants require, but Kilberg said more thought went into the decision than available vacant land.

"We didn't just pick a site at random," he said. Rather, UniSource played a role in telling the company the site would best serve Kingman's load pocket. "We originally planned for an area in Kingman already zoned for solar. We're excited. We've seen a lot of these fail and we hope the community is supportive."

UniSource, he said, deserves much of the credit. Solar energy has grown more reliable as a source of power in recent years and is now cheaper than coal, said Kilberg.

"It's because of forward-thinking utilities like UNS that take a chance," he said. "As a result, solar is more efficient and less expensive and that means ratepayers get a stable source of energy at a fair price. We really appreciate our partnership with UNS, because without willing utility companies, these projects would never get done."

How does the system work?

The project will convert solar energy into electricity using photovoltaic modules, single-axis sun trackers and central inverters. More specifically, crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules will be used to convert the sun's energy into electricity. The modules are guaranteed to produce power for 25 years and the company expects them to operate for closer to 35-40 years.

Sun trackers are designed to allow the modules to track the sun from east to west throughout the day, ensuring they have maximum exposure. The inverters convert electricity from direct current - DC - to alternating current, or AC. The company expects to install about 35 inverters.

Each inverter will have a transformer, which are used to step-up the electricity to an internal distribution voltage of between 24 kilovolts and 34 kilovolts.

Supervisors wanted more community outreach before making a decision. Grey Hawk held the required informal meeting with all property owners within one mile of the property. That meeting was held in December at the Ramada in Kingman and two people attended, with no opposition.

At the March 7 Board of Supervisors meeting, however, people said they had no idea a meeting was held and had questions about the project, specifically dust concerns. Nobody outright opposed the project, but supervisors agreed to table the item until the second meeting in March so the company can better reach out to those neighbors.

The benefits, said Kilberg, will extend to locals, Mohave County and the state. "This will show the world that Mohave County is open for business," he said. "It helps bring a focus and shows the county is willing to work with renewable energy folks and step into the future."

[BIG CATS]

Lots of solar usage across the Valley. Residential, commercial, you name it...

[teddyearp]

Originally Posted by GeneR

<snip>The real estate that wind and solar energy demand led the Nature Conservancy to issue a report last year critical of "energy sprawl,"<snip>

This right here should show one how much you can 'rely' on the environmental groups. On the one hand they want us to quit the greenhouse gasses and go to solar, yet on the other hand . . . .

[Sabrosa]

Originally Posted by LordBalfor

Our friends have a home with solar panels. Their average monthly electric bill is ZERO, and they get money back at the end of each year from daytime power "sold" to the power company. So, how is that not efficient?

Ken

Maybe up front costs? I don't see it as inefficient myself, but more of an investment. Isn't there a tax credit that goes along with it still?

[lvoc]

At present NVEnergy which supplies most of NV is going to get its cheapest energy from a solar facility. Around $.04 per KWH. That is sufficiently cheap that it can replace natural gas on operating cost alone. So even if you have the NG capability you don't use it while the solar source is available. The only shortcoming to that is that the solar plant gets the federal tax credit. Without that the power would be around $ .06 per KWH which is roughly competitive though not advantaged against NG.

What that all says is the day has arrived when you can compete with the fossil fuels directly. And there is probably another factor of two in efficiency and cost reduction available to solar. It will be interesting to see if that reduction works for consumers or only utility scale producers.

As the technology works out there are lots of options that may work with the storage problem. Most interesting one is to use thermal solar to assist in the creation of hydrogen. Turns out that high temperature electrolysis is much more efficent than at a room temperature. So a hybrid facility that creates both hydrogen and steam turbine electricity is thought to perhaps be an elegant way to create stored energy.

The bird problem at Ivanapah is long solved. It occurred when they set up a parking position above the towers for the mirrors. Now what they do is park pointing in different directions so there is no hot spot. I would think the area near the tower is still deadly but it is also bright and hot and I would expect birds to avoid it.

[Hoonose]

Originally Posted by Sabrosa

Maybe up front costs? I don't see it as inefficient myself, but more of an investment. Isn't there a tax credit that goes along with it still?

Our system was priced at $75K, started up Jan. 2009. Cost to us was $25K, about 1/3. The other 2/3 came from tax credits and paid for by the utility co. itself.

The return is close to 10% annually tax free.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by LordBalfor

Overcast weather doesn't stop production of electricity from solar. Heck, they even use solar up in the PNW - where it's cloudy MOST OF THE TIME.
Furthermore, as long as the daytime generates more than you use at night (which is pretty much ALWAYS the case here in AZ) it's a net gain.
Finally you CAN install batteries to hold that power until night - though that may not be worth the cost for most people. While it won't replace other sources of power completely, it can go a long way towards making those other sources stretch. There is currently enough solar installed in Arizona to supply 327,000 homes - more 50% more than the total number of occupied homes in Tucson. That's nothing to sneeze at.

Arizona Solar | SEIA
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

Ken

I don't disagree with any of that.

We both seem to agree that it can be a solid SUPPLEMENTAL source of power augmenting what still needs to be (for current technology) a core system that still relies on more traditional means.

With the innovation that we've seen in this country I have zero doubt that the energy profile of this country 100 years from now will look profoundly different due to technological breakthroughs and even improvements on existing technology.

It wasn't that long ago when we didn't even HAVE electricity all over the country.