SolarReserve, a U.S. developer of utility-scale solar power projects, announced that it has received its final Certificates of Environmental Compatibility (CEC) by unanimous decision (5-0) from the Arizona Corporation Commission for its 150 megawatt (MW) Crossroads Solar Energy Project.
The approval includes the associated transmission line connecting the project to Arizona Public Service’s transmission grid. This final approval follows this past December’s unanimous decision (11-0) from the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee to grant the certificates.
The project is expected to create over 450 construction jobs during the two-year construction period and up to 5,000 direct and induced solar jobs, including offsite supplier and supporting activities. The project has a capital cost in excess of $500 million and is expected to generate economic development in Gila Bend and throughout the region. It will employ at least 45 full-time, permanent operations staff throughout the 30-year project operating life and has an annual operating budget of up to $10 million per year, largely to spend locally.
Located on privately owned and actively cultivated land west of the Town of Gila Bend in Maricopa County, Arizona, the 150 megawatt Crossroads Solar Energy Project will supply approximately 450,000 megawatt hours annually of electricity to Arizona–enough to power up to 100,000 homes during peak electricity periods. The project will utilize an advanced molten salt, power tower technology developed by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a division of United Technologies Corporation, providing the ability to store 10 hours of solar energy and generate electricity on demand, even after the sun goes down. This energy storage capability provides a stable, predictable electricity product and can replace conventional power generation that produces harmful emissions from burning coal, natural gas and oil.
SolarReserve, LLC is headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif. It holds the exclusive worldwide license to the molten salt, solar power tower technology developed by United Technologies Corporation. Since its formation in late 2007, SolarReserve’s team of power project professionals have assembled a concentrated solar power development portfolio of more than 25 projects featuring its licensed solar power technology with potential output of more than 3,000 megawatts in the United States and Europe; with early stage activities in other international markets. SolarReserve is also developing 1,100 MW of photovoltaic projects across the United States, and is actively acquiring new sites in the US and internationally to add to the pipeline.
SolarReserve’s molten salt, concentrating solar power tower technology was successfully demonstrated in California under a U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored pilot project in the late 1990s. The 10-megawatt pilot facility utilized a molten salt receiver designed, engineered and assembled by Rocketdyne, now a part of United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX).
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