Michael Giberson
An :
PHOENIX, Arizona (AP) — A Spanish company is planning to take 3 square miles of desert southwest of Phoenix and turn them into one of the largest solar power plants in the world.
Abengoa Solar, which has plants in Spain, northern Africa and other parts of the U.S., could begin construction as early as next year on the 280-megawatt plant in Gila Bend — a small, dusty town 50 miles southeast [sic] of Phoenix.
The company said Thursday it could be producing solar energy by 2011.
Abengoa would build, own and operate the $1 billion plant, named the Solana Generating Station.
The AP story quoted Arizona governor Janet Napolitano as saying, “There is no reason that Arizona should not be the Persian Gulf of solar energy.”
Well, why not? Let’s see: Three square miles yields a 280 MW capacity plant. Using the 70,000 homes number, a little calculation gives a 38 percent capacity factor for the plant, so that implies the plant will produce about 932,000 MWh per year. If ) to accommodate the necessary solar power plants.
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