Phoenix, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]
Arizona utility, APS has received notice from Starwood Energy Group Global LLC that it is terminating the long-term purchase power agreement the two companies signed in May 2009.
Lockheed Martin, the project developer, cited the size and the final risk profile of the engineering, procurement and construction contract, among other factors as the reasons decided not to go forward.
This ends plans for Starwood Solar I, the 290-megawatt (MW) concentrating solar plant (CSP), which was to be located in the Harquahala Valley, 75 miles west of Phoenix.
via www.renewableenergyworld.com
The luster continues to fade from the CSP star. For most of the last decade Concentrating Solar Power (using the Sun's thermal energy to heat a fluid and create steam to drive a conventional power generating turbine) has been the lead horse in the rise of utility-scale solar power.
Those days are now behind us as thin film photovoltaics are proving to be the stronger technology due to the lack of large-scale water usage (in barren deserts), more sustainable land impacts, and a much more achievable downward sloping cost curve.
Utility-scale Photovoltaics are THE answer that will solve every utility's need for more predictable, bankable renewable energy.
