PHOENIX — Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) today announced plans for one of the world’s largest solar facilities – a 280-megawatt (MW) concentrating solar power (CSP) plant to be built 70 miles southwest of Phoenix, in Gila Bend, Ariz. The Solana Generating Station will produce enough energy to serve 70000 APS customers when operating at full capacity. The plant will be built by Abengoa Solar Inc., and is scheduled to provide renewable energy beginning in 2011. Spanish for “sunny place,” Solana will not emit greenhouse gases and will provide APS with more solar electricity per customer than any utility in the US The facility also would be the largest solar power plant in the world if in operation today. (Video: Business Wire)
APS Announces New Solar Power Plant, Among World’s Largest
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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
because when you do anything in bulk its cheaper than a one or two time run… thus if we created 700 of these small solar plants we could do it cheaper than to make one plant thats 700x the sixe and it would be more efficent since we wouldnt have to transport the energy to the customers… we would be making it closer to the end users
ok onething everyone needs to keep in mind is that we also need to be switching more stuff over to more efficent uses of energy… we cant just produce millions of watts of energy to waste on inefficent crap… we need to be improving our current uses of it as well in turn if we couple that with the use of smaller solar plants more often we will end up ahead… yeah its a big investment now but it would be cheaper in the long run
I do energy audits for a local solar company, and I am finding that a lot of homes that were supposed to be built “energy efficient” were built to the minimum standards for the cert. There are a lot of inexpensive things that can be done to the home to dramatically impact energy consumption. Radiant barriers, insulations, sealing wall and ceiling penetrations, etc.
The problem is the upfront capital cost. To generate 280 MW, the APS plant required $1B investment. That’s Billion. To reach the 5000 MW solution you propose, a company would need to raise between $15-20B for one plant. That’s huge.
I am not shelving it, on the contrary I think it is not going far enough and that’s why I mentioned MW output as my arguement.
I feel like it’s only a small drop in a great big ocean that this powerplant can only produce about 300 MW. Why not design a solar powerplant which can produce 3000, 4000 kr even 5000 MW. We talk about economies of scale and expenses. Well, if you can produce that kind of energy it would become cheaper
Not picking on you in particular but this kind of reaction is exactly what people need to avoid. the first coal plant did not output 3000MW either but because the smaller ones were built and upgraded we end up with the more efficient and powerfull ones.
We need to stop comparing renewable energy output to “dirty” energy output and then shelving it because it does not measure up.
How much energy can 280 MW provide anyway in terms of population?
Dosen’t sound like a whole hell of a lot. I mean a typical coal plant has about 3,000 MW roughly
APS is the most crooked service company I have ever dealt with!
Living in Arizona and being forced to use APS for your electricity needs is very expensive that most people can’t afford it. An average bill with APS is over 350 dollars during the summer months. I had to to pay over 500 dollars this month! Now they say I owe them 800 dollars! I live in a new house that is energy efficient! They even make you pay a deposit ever year about 250 dollars! scam!
I feel all of humanity is a virus me included. Me killing myself or you killing yourself which would do the world a great favor would not help. Everyone needs to die or change the way they live or its no use. Sadly you are just like the billions of other morons on this planet that think that things will be ok even tho there is a ton of proof every single day that things are only getting worst.
I also stand behing my statement that you are an idiot.
You are talking about “me” and “they” never once refering to yourself. I don’t see these thing because I’m a virus? first of all you would then be that same virus by definition. second I’m not a virus.
I’m not responding to your retarding comments again. but I also stand by my comment that if you think we should go extinct why don’t you pull the trigger and kill your self?
hypocritical bastard
No cutting down trees for farmland and other uses,overfishing, over populating the world, pollution, the extinction of countless animals not done by nature but mans hand all these things and more are why humans need to go extinct. You don’t see these things because you are a virus all you know is multiply and eat and destroy. I stand by my statement.
now there is a true enviromentalist, humans need to go extinct for the good of earth.
Well clearly the sollution to the problem is to put a gun to your head and pull the trigger… you first
way to be productive, its that kind of irrational bullshit that will actual cause serious problems for the enviroment.
anyways my point was and still is that even though solar energy for the home can be fun and educational it NEEDS to be cost effective in order to work.
I really don’t care if I disqust you. I’m just being realistic, if it isn’t price effective it will not work. btw if you wuold have read my comment you would have realised I speaking about HOME solar power which is not cost effective large solar plant show real potential however, the hobbiest trying to play power plant could better save the environment by spending their money more wisely.
By the way I have a solar powered cabin in the woods. idiot
so building another coal farm IS the solution?
so what it is expensive? its green! its zero emissio
ur just another idiot who just sees the pricetag and the moneyflow
u’d rather have a coalplant or oilpump that makes alot of money but releases greenhouse gasses, than an expensive solar plant that doesnt release anything.
u disgust me sir
The problem with people is that everything has to make money for it to be made. Why can’t the government build and maintain a mega solar power plant and pay for it with our tax dollars. Energy should be free anyway and it won’t be literally free since our taxes pay for it. Greed/Money will be the death of human kind that is if our idiotic fighting over pretty much everything or climate change at our own hands will do it first. Either way humans need to go extinct for the good of earth.
now I replying to the comment you removed.
solar energy (while it is cool) IS NOT PRICE EFFECTIVE! It takes 25 years to break even and thats NOT counting the tens of thousand in repairs.
second the “selling energy back to the government” You don’t buy the energy from the government to begin with! You would be selling it back to the POWER COMPANY! But that requires a grid tie system and you were talking about being off the grid!
You should stfu you know absolutely nothing about this.
Be smart – don’t pay any more electricity bills. more info: solar.xfollow.me (Copy to your browser’s address bar)
I also wish to bring up the fact that home solar energy is FAR WORSE for the enviroment than burning coal, or getting energy froma commercial solar plant or wind plant or even nuclear plant. It is the worst electricity you can get… because of the batteries, to power a house you need a lot of very toxic batteries and have to replace them often. The process to make these batteries is so toxic its not even legal in the USA and they are very toxic when you throw them out. Expensive too.
well, you show me where I can buy 9 kW worth of solar panels for 1500 and I will buy all of them they have. If you buy that system from a dealer it would cost upward of $50,000 and the break even point would be around 25 years and that just to break even and doesn’t factor in repairs.
This is based on the
FACT that in michigan I only get 4.33 kWh/sq m/day, my average monthly usage is 900 kWh/month or about $80. I also factored in the 30% tax credit availible in michigan. you are full of it
nope but to make your house self reliant it would only cost you about $40,000 for the average person, and then you just have to worry about replacing about $6,000 in batteries every 10 years…
I don’t know how much you pay for electricity but my bill is under $100 per month if I live another 50 years that system would have cost me 20 percent more than just buying it from the electric company. not even counting battery replacement and system maint.
I hope they use qualified union labor for this amazing project! I am working on building a new coal fired plant in IL. This is great for our economy producing 3000 well payed union crafts with a steady job for 3-5 years, and 500 permanent jobs!
I work for APS… Believe me, this is a great thing. We have plenty of sunshine in Arizona and Gila Bend is a perfect place for this plant. Been there? This plant will be the most amazing thing in the town.
Are you kidding????
50w of 1Kw it’s just 5% eficiency !!!!!
This means free power, right?