The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) has voted to approve the Hualapai Valley Solar Project's Certificate of Environmental Compatibility (CEC). The CEC, which is the final state approval required to begin construction, approves the project's power plant, interconnection and transmission plans, according to Mohave Sun Power.
The Hualapai Valley Solar Project is a proposed 340 MW parabolic-trough concentrating solar power plant. The plant's design incorporates seven to eight hours of additional output once the sun is down by storing heat in molten salt tanks during the day. The project is slated to be located approximately 28 miles north of Kingman, Ariz., on private land. It has firm transmission located a few miles from the site.
In its decision, the ACC noted that there is a shift toward dry cooling in the Southwest U.S. and that wet cooled power plants are unlikely to receive more approvals. The project was designed to use an evaporative cooling system supplied with reclaimed wastewater. The CEC also allows the plant to use hybrid (water and air) cooling technology if sufficient reclaimed wastewater is not available.
SOURCE: Mohave Sun Power