Thin film photovoltaic cells are flexible and thinner than a human hair. It may not be long before this technology is applied to mobile devices to capture solar energy. Advertisement The power plant will be developed and owned by Fotowatio Renewable Ventures, based in Madrid, Spain, with a San Francisco-based division. Spain is currently the world’s second largest photovolatic producer, after Germany, with 3,200 MW installed. Fotowatio is one of the largest solar power generators in the United States with systems currently producing more than 35 MWs and projects in development for more than 400 MWs.
The Tucson plant will be nearly twice the size of a 14-MW system, also operated by Fotowatio, at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas, which currently ranks as the nation’s largest operating solar power system.
The second solar project announced by TEP is a 5-MW concentrating solar plant. It will use rows of parabolic troughs and a heat-transfer and storage system to create pressurized vapor to drive a turbine. Concentrating solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. The concentrated light is then used as a heat source for a conventional power plant or is concentrated onto photovoltaic surfaces.
This plant will be owned by Bell Independent Power Corp., based in Pittsford, N.Y.
Both Fotowatio and Bell have signed agreements with TEP to buy power generated from the plants for 20 years.
TEP currently has more than 400,000 customers. It operates what is currently the state’s largest solar array, a 4.6-MW system in Springerville.
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