Solar farm faces regulatory processMar 6 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Jeff Tucker The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.
Water usage is one of the myriad topics that will be addressed in Pueblo County's regulatory process for a 900 acre solar farm south of Pueblo. But representatives from the company that wants to build the power plant said the water use will be minimal. Sam Sours, regional development director for Community Energy Solar, said Wednesday that it's anticipated the amount of water used by the project will be about the same as a single-family home. "There's no continuous cycling of water in a photovoltaic plant," Sours said. "The technology literally converts the sun's photons directly into energy photons." Sours said the company's biggest use of water will come from periodic cleaning of the panels. The proposal from Community Energy Solar and Xcel Energy calls for panels made up of 450,000 photovoltaic cells that will move in tandem to track the sun's movement across the sky. The array is proposed for property southeast of Xcel's Comanche power plant. Lately that area has suffered from a lengthy drought and periodically births large dust storms when the winds pick up. But Sours said the company isn't too concerned with the effects of those storms on the array. Sours said the industry collects much of its data from facilities in the Sonoran Desert in Southern Arizona, where sandstorms tend to be larger, more frequent and stronger. "We understand the environmental conditions of the area and take into account those effects," Sours said. "Even with the drought, it's rained more in Pueblo than it does in Southern Arizona and any sort of rain that occurs does have a very good cleansing effect on these panels." Sours said the panels also are designed to withstand physical damage the windstorms might cause. Their lifespans are designed for between 30 and 50 years. Pueblo County anticipates the Community Energy Solar will file its 1041 permit application by the end of March or mid-April. The permit may be before county commissioners by mid-June. http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=31748224& |