Flux Energy Proposes Eloy, Arizona Community Solar Plant

Flux Energy, a solar energy company vested in solar thermal (concentrating solar) power, recently put a proposal before the Eloy, Arizona town council for a community-based solar power plant that could provide “green” energy, give the town some greenbacks to play with, and potentially save residents on electricity costs as well.Flux, a mechanical, civil, electrical and structural engineering firm which builds utility-scale solar power plants (ranging from 10 to 100 megawatts), is located in Solar Valley, near Phoenix, Arizona.This most recent proposal, for a 40-acre solar thermal generating facility on city land located adjacent to Houser and Eleven Mile Corner Road (near the public works facility), relies on Flux’ 25 years of design engineering experience and new technology called the Sun Dial design.Sun Dial, a dry air condensing system, doesn’t use water, so its environmental footprint – in parched Arizona – is very minimal. Instead, a raised mirror array, which uses only two percent of the land area, delivers heat to a central tower operating at 20 percent efficiency. Excess heat is dissipated via a type of waterless radiator, and the service life of the facility is estimated at up to five decades, or almost twice as long as a solar photovoltaic array.Advertising electricity production costs of $4 per watt, Flux Energy wants to create a form of distributed solar energy that relies on many, small (10 megawatt) solar “farms”, each delivering energy to its respective community and yet small enough to integrate easily into the surrounding landscape.According to Flux President Robert Orsello, the individual plants would provide additional city or municipal funds through power purchase agreements (PPAs) between the cities and local or regional electric utilities. According to Orsello, such plants could generate up to $8 billion a year in revenues, without costing the city a penny to build.Eloy City Manager Joseph Blanton thinks it’s a great idea for the city to own a power plant, even with maintenance costs estimated at about $8,000 per year. The problem now is to find an electric utility willing to buy the electricity generated, and to that end the city council is being asked to submit an interconnect agreement to Arizona Public Service, or APS.Flux will recapture costs through the federal government, under ARRA, which is offering 30 percent grant funding for the capital costs of renewable energy construction projects begun in 2011 and completed by 2016. The government is also providing long-term, low-interest loans for the purpose, and utilities like APS benefit by getting very favorable PPAs for participating in such projects.If all else fails, Eloy can reach out to California, where green power gets premium consideration thanks to a renewable portfolio standard, or RPS, that calls for 20 percent of electricity from renewables by the end of this year.