Solana Generating Station

The Solana Generating Station is a solar power plant which is under construction near Gila Bend, Arizona, about 70 miles (110 km) southwest of Phoenix, expected to be completed in 2013. It is being built by the Spanish company Abengoa Solar, and will have a total capacity of 280 megawatts (MW), which is enough to power 70,000 homes while avoiding around 475,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Its name is the Spanish term for "sunny spot".

Arizona Public Service (APS) has contracted to purchase 100% of the power output generated from Solana, to meet the Arizona Corporation Commission's (ACC) mandate that the state's regulated utilities provide 15% of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2025. APS will pay about 14 ¢/kW·h. The Solana plant, originally planned to open in 2011, will cost an estimated $2 billion. In December 2010, Abengoa received a $1.45 billion loan guarantee to support construction of the plant.

The plant will employ a proprietary concentrating solar power (CSP) trough technology developed by Abengoa, and will cover an area of 1,900 acres (770 ha). Construction is expected to create about 1,500 construction jobs; once completed, the plant will employ 85 full-time workers. Solar thermal plants use substantially more water for cooling than other solar generating technologies. Nevertheless, the Sierra Club supports the Solana plant, because it will be built on private land, and use "75 to 85 percent less water than the current agricultural use."

One of the principal advantages of concentrated solar thermal (CST) is that storage can be provided efficiently (99%/day) so that 24-hour output can be provided, and output can be scheduled to meet demand requirements. The Solana Generating Station is designed to provide six hours of storage.