APS building what it calls world
The majority owner of the nation's largest nuclear power plant Thursday announced it will build what it says will be the world's largest solar power plant. When finished, it will be able to power more than 70,000 homes a year.
Arizona Public Service Co. is moving forward with plans to build a 280-magawatt concentrating solar power plant near Gila Bend, 70 miles southwest of Phoenix.
The plant will be named the Solana Generating Station and is expected to be fully operational by 2011. It will be built by Abengoa Solar Inc., a Spanish solar plant company created in 1984.
APS will pay for the entire project, which will only serve APS customers. APS, a subsidiary of Phoenix-based Pinnacle West Capital Corp. (NYSE: PNW), would not disclose the cost to build the solar plant, but said it would be more than $1 billion.
The project is more than two-years in the making and will be the first of many in the state, said Don Brandt, APS president. Brandt will take over as CEO of the state's largest utility on March 1.
"This won't be the last solar plant we build in Arizona," he said payday advance online. "Up until this point in time … funding for a project this size would not be possible."
The plant will be built on 3 square miles and will be filled with 2,700 parabolic mirrors that will track sunlight. The reflective sunlight will reach temperatures of more than 735 degrees Fahrenheit, which will power conventional steam generators.
More than 1,500 people will be involved in the construction of the plant. More than 85 technicians will work at the site once complete.
APS estimates the plant will bring in more than $1 billion in economic benefits over the next 30 years. The energy produced will equal about $4 billion during that time, Brandt said.
The plant also will help APS reach its Arizona Corporation Commission-mandated 15 percent renewable energy requirement by 2025. Matched with the utility's other renewable energy plants, now at about 131 megawatts, APS will be able to power more than 100,000 homes purely on renewable energy.