World's Largest Solar Plant in AZ Hinges on US Congress

America's prospects for a solar powered future just got much brighter.

The Spanish engineering firm Abengoa has announced that it's sealed a deal with the Arizona Public Service (APS) Company to build the largest concentrating solar plant in the whole world about 70 miles southwest of Phoenix, Arizona. It will be one of the first cases where a utility relies on solar power for its day-to-day operations.

And at a build cost of $1 billion, it will generate 280 MW of electricity and be capable of powering around 80,000 homes -- in just three years.

But. There's a catch.

The whole deal will fall to pieces if the US Congress doesn't pass the clean energy tax credit that's set to expire at the end of 2008. So says the CEO of Abengoa, Santiago Seage, who told The Arizona Republic that If the tax credit for solar power plants is not renewed, "Solana will not happen."

It may be the biggest clean energy project that gets cut short if Washington continues to drag its feet. But it won't be the only one. According to the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), 42,000 MW of planned renewable energy projects that are in development right now in 45 states are in jeopardy.

The organization has sent a letter to Congress (pdf) with an urgent plea: extend the Production Tax Credit (PTC) and the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for solar, wind, and other renewables by March 1, 2008 or put US jobs -- and the most promising energy sectors on Earth -- at risk.

The letter has 15 pages full of signatures. So far.

So what are the odds?

Experts say the new tax credit has to be in place by the first quarter of '08. So there's a serious time crunch. And: recent history's not on their side. The tax credit fell one vote short of passing the US Senate as part of the December 2007 energy bill. (John McCain's missing vote.) And, in February 2008, it again fell one vote short of passing as part of the economic stimulus bill. (Again, John McCain's missing vote.)

The good new is that one vote means there's room to get it done, and the House Dems are now working on a stand-alone bill. The other promising story is that the solar lobby may be gearing up to play some political "hardball" in DC -- finally -- to guarantee success this time around.

What's the feeling in Arizona?

In an interview, APS spokesperson Steven Gotfried told SolveClimate that he's 100% confident that the bill's going to pass. And if it doesn't? Well, he wouldn't go as far to suggest that the whole project will be derailed -- even when prodded -- but he admits that the government's help will certainly make Solana "much easier" to get off the ground.

Have a look at what's at stake if it doesn't. (Note the 1,500 new construction jobs.)

The project "by the numbers," put together by The Arizona Republic:

280: Megawatts of power Solana will be able to produce.

70,000-84,000: Number of homes those megawatts will power in Arizona.

1,500: Construction jobs to build the plant.

85: Full-time employees to run the plant.

75 percent less: Amount of water the plant will use compared with the existing alfalfa farm.

14 cents: Average price APS will pay per kilowatt-hour over the life of the plant.

9 cents: Average price APS customers pay today per kilowatt-hour for electricity generated through combined nuclear, coal, natural-gas and renewable sources.

 

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