Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at 12:23:49 PM - by Danny Vo

On Friday, September 18, a special session of the Mohave County P & Z (planning and zoning commission finally approved the Hualapai Valley Solar (HVS) project. The approval was delayed at last week’s meeting.

The 340-megwatt concentrating solar plant will be built on 4,000 acres about 25 miles north of Kingman, Arizona. It will reportedly create 1,500 temporary construction jobs for the area, and 100 permanent ones. It will also provide about $30 million in revenue during construction, $4 million in property taxes to the county once completed, and add about $5.5 million in wages.

The project is expected to be operational by late 2013, with an effective lifetime of about 30 years.
The HVS project will take advantage of Arizona’s superior solar insolation values, which the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) research shows is about 6.5 to 7 (on a scale of 1.3 to 8.3) kWh/m2/Day – or kilowatt hours per square meter per day.

The project area is one of desert grasslands which form critical habitat for seven species whose status ranges from sensitive to Species of Concern. However, during an environmental survey, none of the seven species was observed living on the acreage in question. Equally as important, the region is one where water supplies have remained stable, or actually risen, since 1996, so the project won’t encourage desertification. Also, because the land is privately owned, some of the more extensive environmental reviews mandated at the state and federal level are not necessary. The next step in the approval’s process is the Nov. 16 county supervisor’s board meeting.

The HVS Project relies on concentrating solar power technology, or CSP, using a standard Rankine cycle process to convert sunlight and turn it into electricity. The system will also use molten salt technology to store energy at night and during off-peak periods.

Because the project is in the early design and permitting stages, the number of mirrors hasn’t been specified. HVS is working with Fichtner Solar of Germany, a worldwide leader in the design of concentrating solar trough projects, to firm up project details. However, project plans suggest that the solar collectors, or mirrors, will be mounted on single-axis trackers, with individual controllers, actuating systems and security monitors.

In spite of HVS’s approval, the commission has postponed a 200-megawatt solar farm proposed by Albiasa Corporation until the company can meet with neighboring property owners around the 1,800-acre site and reassure on issues regarding water, dry cooling versus wet cooling, power purchase agreements, geographic power delivery, and how many of the 2,000 construction jobs and 100 permanent jobs would remain local.