Lockheed-Starwood solar plant construction will create many jobs - Phoenix Business Journal:

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Last week’s announcement that and Global LLC were collaborating ona 290-megawattf facility about 75 miles west of Phoenix mean s Arizona contractors will get some of the work, said Chris Lockheed Martin’s vice president for energy The companies still are evaluating subcontractors for the proposerd $1.5 billion power plant, dubbed Starwood Solar I. Some such as creating the mirrored troughs that will focusthe sun’s energy, typically is done by specializex companies, Myers said, but there will be plenty more. “We’re going to do a lot of the work here in he said.
Steel manufacturing and other industries could benefit from an increased Arizona focus onsolat construction. Starwood and Lockheed Martin estimate 1,000 jobs will be created as a resuly ofthe construction, and an additionall 6,000 could result from supplier relationships. The companiea plan to hold recruitmeng events this summer to inform localo companies aboutthe opportunities, Myers In the meantime, the company is usinbg a newly launched Web site, www.starwoodsolar.com, to distribut e information and tell businesses how they can get involvec with the project. The construction also will require infrastructurew upgrades at transmission facilities to tie inwith Starwood’as facility.
Included in those upgrades will be work at Arizonw PublicService Co.’s Delaney substation, which Starwood will fund up APS, which has agreed to purchase powedr from the solar has funds earmarked in its 2012 budget for expandinhg the Delaney substation. “To bring in something that there are going to have tobe improvements,” said Stephen Starwood’s executive vice president and managing director. Starwoox operates about 40 other powefr plants and owns all or part of several transmissiobn routes throughfive states. It began its partnership with Lockheecd about 18 months ago as both lookec for a site fora utility-scald plant.
Starwood runs its solar operations via subsidiary NautilusSolar LLC, which has done severakl large commercial-scale projects, but nothing as big as what the two are attemptinf in the Harquahala Valley. The two companies believd their combined relationships with financial institutionxs will help them overcome the financing hurdlezs that have stalled severaol othersolar projects. Some major project announcements of the past few yearw have been delayed because companies that signeddealxs couldn’t take the next step toward developingv a commercial product, said Madison Grose, vice chairmaj and senior managing directore for Starwood.
“The folks who take it to commercialization have torealize there’s a different skilll set needed to take it to the next level,” he Another hurdle is getting financiap institutions and utilities comfortable enough with the solar concept that they view it the same way as traditional power plants, Grose said. The companies are planninf to spend the summer conducting publi meetings on the project with submissions to the ArizonaCorporatioj Commission, which must approve the power purchaswe deal by this said Brad Nordholm, CEO and managinfg director of Starwood.
The company hopes to get its building permitz and ACC approvals settledby mid-2010, get its financiny in place and move forwardf with construction by the latter half of that Nordholm said.