World's Largest Solar Power Plant Planned in Arizona

CoStar News ^ | Feb. 29, 2008 | Phillip Majarucon

[listenhillary]

Rough calculation of 3 to 6 billion dollars received by the company for electricity over 30 years.

Seems like it is a viable plan.

[driftdiver]

“70,000 household at a price tag of $1 BILLION. Anyone see the problem here?”

$14,286 per household is kinda high considering it will have to be replaced on a regular basis as they break and wear down.

[steelyourfaith]

 

"Arizona is leading the way in protecting our world for future generations through increasing the amount of renewable energy, combating climate change, fighting for air quality and much more."

 

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[listenhillary]

Based on a $200 a month payment for electricity, each houshold would pay $72,000 over 30 years.

$200 a month might be low in Arizona.

[bert]

I would argue there is no land problem.
First, the project proposed is in Arizona on land not suited for agriculture.

Secondly, we have an excess of agricultural land. Farms in Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia are going fallow as the generational change moves people from farms to cities.

T he loss of land to housing and development is trivial as a function of the available total.

Further west there is a similar situation. As prices rise, land that is now unproductive will be used.

[Racer1]

“An investment entity associated with Brandon Wolfswinkel of Tempe, AZ, sold the land for $45.12 million, or about $14,700 per acre.”

$14,700 per acre for desert land not bad. I wonder if Harry Reid had any investment in this land. :)

[Shirerwasright]

As close as the liberal wackos are.

Maybe we can have illegals polish them daily.

[JustDoItAlways]

Here is a smaller version of the solar plant to be built. 280 megawatts is a nice sized plant but for $1 billion, the economics might be questionable.

Not based on solar cells but based on mirrors reflecting sunlight and using the heat to generate power.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Suspect that it’s in non-irrigated desert, the same as with the planned Mojave solar plant in California.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

"How efficient are these panels when they have a foot or 3 of snow on them? What’s the cost savings during the annual 20% of total sunny days from November to February in the Great Lakes region?"

There's a reason why this solar plant is located in the Arizona desert. Who's suggesting building a major solar plant in the northern states?

[driftdiver]

“Based on a $200 a month payment for electricity, each houshold would pay $72,000 over 30 years.”

Does the $1 billion include operating and maintenance expenses for 30 years?

IMO solar has its uses but its extremely inefficient for the generation of electricity. When new the solar cells convert somewhere around 10% of the energy they take in. As the cells age that efficiency declines.

And then there are the toxic byproducts from the manufacturing process.

The key to this project is summed up in this sentence “It will be able to power 70,000 households while avoiding more than 400,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, according to Abengoa. “

The project is about global warming.

[Conservative Vermont Vet]

Let's see. The US produced 4.062 trillion kWh (2005) of electricity

A megawatt is one million watts

A kilowatt is one thousand watts, (or a billion watts)

the US Produces 4.062 trillion KWh (2005) which is equal to 1,000,000 x 4.062 trillion (A Frikkin BIG Number)

4,00 Billion = 4 Trillion

40,000 Million = 4 Trillion (4,000,000,000,000)

This solar plant will produce 280 Mw

280 megawatts = .28 Kilowatts

Now, how many 280 megawatt solar plants would it take to replace the 4 trillion kW produced each year?

About 4 for each Kilowatt

Multiplied X 4 trillion (4,000,000,000,000) = 16 trillion plants.

So far so good.

Now if it takes 3,000 sq acres or approx 3 sq. miles for this miracle of miraculous green ingenuity which will produce 280 megawatts, how much land would be needed to produce the 4 trillion annually?

Well, multiply 16 trillion plants 16,000,000,000,000 x 3 and we get 48 trillion sq miles.

Let see, the US has about 8,500,000 Sq. miles so were quite a bit short here.

Well, how about we add South America? Nope, only 6,814,000 Sq. miles.

Throw in Europe? Nada, only 3,872,000 Sq. miles.

Well, Africa is BIG. Sorry, only 11,500,000 Sq. miles.

Give up yet?

The surface area of the ENTIRE WORLD, is only 196,950,000 Sq. miles.

So, what’s the moral here?

Way too much time on my hands this Sunday morning and wayyyyyy too little room on “Mom Earth” much less the good ol U.S. of A., to even begin to think that solar, or wind or anything else (not even all the hot air of OwlGore and his sycophant Green Weenies) will begin to replace our conventional sources of producing electricity.

Have a blessed Sunday all. Me I'm going to Church and pray for GloBull warning--that is if I can get out of my driveway here in Burlington VT, where we just experienced the snowiest Feb on record and is presently snowing again, as well as being VERY cold!

[Westlander]

Found this to be useful & accurate. Settable for your location. Takes about a week to figure out all the doo dahs. GoreBull warning be damned! http://www.wunderground.com/

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

I'm convinced that the continental USA is simply too far north for solar energy to be practical

Just this week there was a report by a professor that said that solar energy is not practical. It is too expensive.

The price stated for this land sounds excessive. If this is true, there must be huge government subsidies. Something is wrong.

[MNJohnnie]

Based on a $200 a month payment for electricity

$200 a month for electricity is a massively expenseive bill that most people would never be able to afford. A peak use month may see something in the range of $75-$90. Normal bill would be in the $30-40 range. $200 a month is about 4 times more what people are normally paying now. Hardly worth the cost to just to fight a media manufactured myth like "Global Warming"

[Tammy8]

According to this article:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0221biz-solar0221.html

This solar plant will be built on land previously used for raising alfalfa- which is of course fed to livestock...which we eat- hence food source. I also noted in this article it talks about using salt as part of the process- which may very well mean the land may be contaminated and could never be farmed again.

I do worry about agricultural land being converted to other uses, there really is only so much suitable land for farming and livestock and if we use it for other things it will eventually become a problem.

If you have surplus farm land in TN, that is great- but we need agriculture spread out over the country, otherwise the freight will put the cost of food out of sight in many areas. I would hate to think what I would have to pay for food grown in TN and trucked out here to the southwest, especially at today’s fuel prices.

I would feel better about this project if they had built it out in the stark desert instead of diverting farm ground. I suspected they were using farm ground because of the price they paid per acre- stark desert does not cost that much.

[Tammy8]

See my post at #36
It was farm land, that is why they paid so much- they should have used bare desert. I would be happier and they would have saved money.

[Westlander]

Pssst. It’s Saturday ;-)

[PeaceBeWithYou]

You might want to check your figures and a calendar. It’s Saturday and I think you lost it at “280 megawatts = .28 Kilowatts”. ;-).

[SeeRushToldU_So]

Have a blessed Sunday all.

It's Saturday.But you point is excellent.