sPower Breaks Ground on 45-megawatt Sandstone Solar Facility in Florence, AZ

Jul 23 - By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Energy Weekly News

sPower, a leading renewable energy provider, announced that construction has begun on its 45-megawatt (MW) Sandstone Solar project in Florence, Arizona . The facility is scheduled to start delivering clean, renewable energy by the end of the year under a 21-year power purchase agreement between sPower and SRP.

The Sandstone project successfully secured required permits and approvals from the Town of Florence and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the project's Environmental Assessment (EA), greenlighting construction to commence.

"The Sandstone Solar facility illustrates another great way to develop new renewable-energy opportunities," said Congressman Paul Gosar , who represents the Arizona district where the facility is being built. "The fact that solar power is becoming economical when compared to traditional energy sources means we can achieve our national goal of affordable energy independence and diverse power supplies all with less environmental impact."

sPower awarded the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract to Swinerton Renewable Energy, who will install more than 182,000 Jinko Solar photovoltaic (PV) modules mounted on a tracking system that follows the sun, allowing the panels to more efficiently capture energy as the sun tracks across the Arizona sky. Arizona Representative Frank Pratt , Chairman of the House Energy Committee , commented, " Arizona needs an energy portfolio that is diverse and renewable. That's why the Sandstone Solar project is so important. It will help SRP expand its energy portfolio with additional reliable, affordable and clean energy."

When fully operational, the Sandstone Solar facility will produce enough green power to reliably supply more than 8,000 homes and is expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 88,800 metric tons annually - the equivalent of removing nearly 19,000 cars from the road each year or reducing CO2 emissions from 206,500 barrels of oil consumed.1 "The sPower Sandstone Solar facility will support SRP's goal to acquire the most cost-effective clean, renewable resources for the benefit of all of our customers," said Mark Bonsall , SRP general manager and chief executive officer. "The project is an outstanding example of a community-scale solar project and represents a bright future for renewable energy." About sPower: Headquartered in Salt Lake City , with offices in San Francisco and New York City , sPower is a prominent independent power producer (IPP) that owns and/or operates more than 150 utility and commercial distributed electrical generation systems across the United States and the United Kingdom . With greater than 1.7 gigawatts between construction and pipeline, sPower is actively buying select renewable assets in virtually any stage of development in North America and the UK . sPower is a portfolio company of Fir Tree Partners , a leading global investment fund with more than 20 years of investing history and approximately $13 billion of capital under management. www.spower.com About SRP: Salt River Project is the third-largest public power utility in the country serving about one million electric customers. The SRP Board has set a goal to meet 20 percent of SRP's retail electricity requirements through sustainable resources by the year 2020. Currently, SRP is ahead of schedule - providing more than 12 percent of retail energy needs with sustainable resources, which include renewable energy, hydro power, conservation, efficiency and pricing measures.

High-definition video and photographs of a similar sPower solar power plant and examples of SRP's renewable portfolio are available in SRP's digital media resource center. 1 U.S. EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator based on 132,300,000 kWh annual system production View source version on businesswire.com : http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150713005240/en/

Keywords for this news article include: sPower, Oil & Gas, Solar Power , Renewable Energy.

http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=36843357