Renewable Energy in Northern Arizona

Photo of the Solar Electric Generating Station.
(DOE photo.)

Like much of the West, Arizona gets plenty of sun— over 300 days each year.  The Mohave County Landowners Association (Newsletter #723) notes that recent state legislation, combined with funds from the federal stimulus package, are making renewable energy plants popular in northern Arizona.  They list:

  •  The 340-Mw Hualapai Valley solar thermal plant.  The City of Kingman plans to sell water recycled from its wastewater treatment facility for cooling the turbines, reducing groundwater usage.
  • The 200-Mw Albiasa thermal solar plant. This will be built on land originally intended for a now-defunst "master planned" community, and will use les than 1/5 of the water that community planned to use.
  • The 1.5 Mw Hackberry Road photvoltaic plant, which will use no cooling water at all.
  • "A large wind farm near White Hills has also been proposed," 
  • A biofuels plant is under consideration.  Says the National Wildlife Federation, "Arizona has 1.1 million dry tons of biomass available each year that could be used to generate about 200 MW of electricity."

And that's just one northern county.  Plants and proposals are springing up across the state.   As in neighboring states like Utah and Nevada, Arizona's potential for generating renewable energy is enormous.

 

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Comments

  • 11/13/2009 5:51 PM ryan wrote:
    it sounds like a good place for folks to keep a few greenhouses in the yard.
    wards off the cold nights, and mitigates water evaporation.
    Reply to this
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