
Albiasa Solar of Spain and the Arizona Department of Commerce are set to announce the building of a $1 billion solar-thermal power plant near Kingman, Arizona, next year, which will provide power for up to 50,000 homes when fully operational in 2013.
“The arrival of Albiasa Corp. is yet another big step toward establishing Arizona as a leader in the sustainable-industries sector.” – Arizona Governor Jan Brewer
The solar-thermal plant in Kingman will create 2,000 construction jobs and 100 permanent jobs, according to the Arizona Commerce Department. The exact location for the plant has not been announced, but the company said the Kingman area was chosen because it was one of the few places with the power line transmission capability.
“With the power loads in the Southwest cities, there are not a whole lot of power lines to get the power over there.” – Jesse Tippett, managing director for Albiasa’s U.S. operations
Two other solar thermal plants for Arizona have been announced recently, the Solana Generating Station, a 280-megawatt solar-thermal plant in Gila Bend built by Abengoa Solar, and a proposed 250-megawatt solar-thermal plant announced in December 2007 by APS, Salt River Project, and Tucson Electric Power Co., which has been shelved due to lack of agreement between the partners. The Solana Generating Station should be online in 2011.
The company is negotiating with the area’s utilities for purchase agreements for power from the plant in order to get financing, possibly through Arizona Public Service Co. or Pacific Gas and Electric. Albiasa incorporated a U.S. subsidiary in August of 2008, and is looking to establish an office in the southwest.
[Via AZ Central]
Image: NREL
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
