By Dave Cooper, edmontonjournal.com
| EDMONTON — In Sun Valley west of Phoenix, Edmonton-based Capital Power is chasing the sun with plans for 1,100 hectares of solar collectors that could supply up to 420 megawatts of power to the state grid.
The empty desert land is contracted, the application for transmission connections has been filed and most residents are cheering a green project that will provide jobs and tax revenue, says the project’s Arizona-based manager.
And being Canadian is not a problem.
“Rather than nationality, people are more concerned with the question ‘is this company real?’ ” said John Cordes. |
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This is the area near Phoenix where Capital Power plans a solar energy project.
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“Some firms come in and put an option on land and then don’t do the work to make the project viable. Capital Power is doing the engineering and planning, and the state utilities will look at this and seriously consider it when the PPA (power purchase agreement) is awarded,” he added.
Still partly-owned by Edmonton’s Epcor Utilities, Capital Power has extensive experience in project permitting and construction “with investment-grade credit and a strong interest in expanding into the U.S. Southwest,” Cordes said.
Unlike Alberta’s open power market, where electricity is largely provided on speculation through a bidding process, Arizona only deals with power purchase agreements (PPAs) — no utility will build any generation until such a long-term deal is in place.
And Capital Power will be trying for just such an arrangement in June, when this year’s round of entrants are examined.
Arizona utilities look out 10 years and decide what is going to be needed. And they factor in the state’s renewable power supply mandate, which aims to have 15 per cent of Arizona’s power coming from sustainable sources — solar, wind or hydro — by 2025.
“Most of what is being procured right now is natural-gas peaking plants to support new solar and wind projects. You are not seeing them go for combined cycle (large gas-fired plants) but just gas to back up renewables when the sun sets — and that is now about 5 p.m. down here,” said Cordes.
Capital Power’s Sun Valley Project also includes gas-fired peaking turbines — the first in the state where turbines and solar collectors are on the same site — which, if approved in future PPAs, would add between 200 and 320 MW of electricity.
The units being considered are identical to the systems at Capital Power’s Clover Bar Energy Centre — General Electric LM-6000 (40 MW each) and the larger and improved LMS-100 (100 MW each) turbines based on GE’s engines which power Boeing 767 and Airbus 330 aircraft.
These units can begin producing electricity within minutes, and are an important backup to Alberta’s power grid.
Still under study is the issue of solar collectors — will they be either fixed or single-axis tracking units. The tracking units capture more direct sun rays for more hours, which translates into 30 per cent more electricity. But they are more expensive and require more maintenance than the fixed units.
Cordes hopes that after the bidding, a decision on the PPA will be made by late 2012. If that was the case, construction would start within six months.
“It takes about a month to construct 10 megawatts, so if we get 150 megs to start that would be a 15-month project.”
In that case, Capital Power could probably begin adding the new solar power to the grid — and begin earning revenue — in increments of 20MW before the end of 2013.
Arizona was the fastest-growing state until the recession, “and when things turn around it will be a growth market again,” said Cordes.
“There is no much to do here, from hiking to golf to amazing cultural activities. And spring baseball, of course.”
He figures the chances for a PPA in the next round are excellent for Capital Power, since there are three large solar projects approved and the Sun Valley is considered next in line.
“We have hosted a large open house and made many presentations throughout the area. People want the skilled jobs to build and maintain this project, and the land lease payments benefit the public schools, as well as general tax revenues,” said Cordes.
Arizona’s current power generators include four coal-fired power plants and the Palo Verde nuclear station, a 3,300MW generator located 80 kilometres west of Phoenix — not all that far from Capital’s project.
Originally ran December 9, 2011 in the Edmonton Journal, print and digital editions. Retrieved online December 11, 2011 from http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Capital+Power+Arizona/5839268/story.html