Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
• Create greater market certainty for renewable energy suppliers
• Develop the market for renewable energy so that proposed projects are technically
feasible and can obtain financing
• Induce improvements and cost reductions in renewable energy technologies
• Create niches for renewable energy technologies whose costs are above conven-
tional energy resource costs
• Establish a means for utilities to recover the costs of acquiring renewable resources
State renewable energy policies coupled with federal tax incentives and other subsidies
have, directly or indirectly, resulted in deployment of a variety of renewable energy
projects throughout the desert Southwest. Several examples are listed below.
• Geothermal energy. Over 500 MW of geothermal generating capacity have been
installed in the Salton Sea area of southern California.
22
• Concentrating solar power. Nine solar electric generating stations built in the 1980s
and early 1990s in the Mojave Desert produce about 350 MW of power combined.
They were the first in the United States to use parabolic troughs on a large scale
to make steam for generating electricity and are still in operation. The Nevada
Solar One project near Las Vegas, which was completed in 2007, generates 64 MW
of power using parabolic troughs, and a 100 MW power tower with thermal stor-
age in Nevada is scheduled to start construction in 2011. In Arizona, Abengoa has
begun construction of the 250 MW Solana CSP plant with thermal storage; the
electricity will be sold to Arizona Public Service Company.
• Large photovoltaic projects. Sempra Energy completed a 10 MW and a 48 MW
PV plant near Las Vegas, Nevada and sells the output to a utility. The 30 MW
Cimarron PV facility in New Mexico provides electricity to Tri-State Generation
and Transmission Cooperative.
• Wind energy. East central New Mexico and West Texas have good wind resources
and numerous large scale wind energy projects. As of 2010, New Mexico had about
700 MW of wind generation and Texas had about 10,000 MW of wind generation.
23
As additional utility-scale renewable energy projects are planned, more transmission
capacity will be needed. For instance, if Arizona utilities want to add significant amounts
of New Mexico wind energy to their portfolios, more transfer capability from New Mexico
into Arizona will be needed. Similarly, if more solar energy facilities were to be installed in
west central Arizona to serve the load in Phoenix or southern California, more transmis-
sion capacity would likely be needed. States are examining renewable energy zones where
power plants would be sited and utilities are trying to coordinate investments in trans-
mission to bring power from those zones into the grid. Transmission planning must also
address the environmental impacts of proposed transmission corridors so that conflicts
with scenic landscapes and with wildlife are avoided, mitigated, or minimized.
29.6.2 Local Capabilities
Local governments, entrepreneurs, and nongovernmental organizations are becoming
established players in distributed energy and energy efficiency. Distributed energy refers
Search WWH ::
Custom Search