Arizona Public Service Continues to Invest in Solar Energy
HYDER, Ariz. — Construction on another Arizona solar photovoltaic facility, the Hyder II Solar Power Plant, will begin in April and is slated for completion in December.
This is the sixth project that Phoenix-based Arizona Public Service (APS), the state’s largest electricity utility, has invested in through the AZ Sun Program. The program was approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission, allowing the utility company to finance and develop up to 200 megawatts of solar photovoltaic power plants across the state by 2015. APS will own the projects, which are designed and constructed by third-party solar developers, contractors and equipment providers. The plants are expected to generate clean energy for at least the next 30 years.
APS selected McCarthy Building Cos. to engineer, procure the materials and construct the 14-megawatt facility. By using the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) method — in which APS hired McCarthy directly — the project delivery will be more efficient because “it allows McCarthy to develop a design for optimized energy generation using our industry in-house experts to design and construct solar fields and lead the team,” said Dennis Tucker, executive vice president of McCarthy Southwest division.
The facility will be located on 240 acres and include more than 71,000 single-axis tracker PV panels that will generate enough solar energy to power 3,500 homes. The single-axis tracker design enables the solar modules to follow the sun across the sky for the maximum energy generation, according to Tucker.
“Hyder II will be the third solar project we have worked on for APS,” Tucker said. “Our system engineering and construction expertise will help APS harness the power of the sun and turn it into clean, renewable energy.”
Hyder was chosen as the site for the facility because it is adjacent to the existing 16-megawatt Hyder PV plant and is in close proximity to the utility distribution line. Plus, its location in the Arizona desert makes it a primary solar resource.
The remote location, however, also posed a challenge for the construction crew, said Tucker. “One of the biggest challenges in designing and constructing a solar field is being able to mobilize large crews in remote desert areas. We’ve worked with local chambers of commerce and the economic development folks in Yuma to recruit local labor for the project, which has been a key factor for the success of the project, as well as bringing a benefit to the local community in the form of jobs.”
The Hyder II project will bring 150 jobs to the local area, and the overall five-year AZ Sun program will generate more than 2,000 Arizona construction jobs. Including the 14 megawatts for Hyder II, the program has 49 megawatts under development (with the addition of 35 megawatts in Yuma). A 19-megawatt facility opened in Chino Valley in December 2012, and before that, the program already had 50 megawatts online: two 17-megawatt plants in Gila Bend and the existing Hyder plant where Hyder II will be situated alongside. Last summer, APS issued a request for proposal for an additional 32 megawatts to be located in Gila Bend.
Although solar power may seem more feasible in sun-filled Arizona than in other parts of the country, Tucker said, “What may surprise readers is that the capital costs for solar utility are becoming more cost effective. This is partly due to the market but also because we are getting more sophisticated about design, and the plants are able to meet utility peak demands making it less of a risk for utilities. Solar is being viewed as more reliable.”