AIR FORCE FLIES TO PV SUN

Solar construction at Luke set for 2011
Rebekah L. Sanders, August 11, 2010 (Arizona Republic)

"SunPower Corp. expects to begin building one of the largest solar arrays in the nation at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale by the beginning of next year…

"As many as 550 workers, including civil engineers, electricians and construction crews, should be hired to complete the project, pending approval from the Arizona Corporation Commission, in the coming months. The six-month construction project is expected to be completed by summer."

It wouldn't be like the Air Force to waste such an abundance of fuel. (click to enlarge)

"Arizona Public Service would pay for and own the array of high-efficiency panels that San Jose-based SunPower would design, build and maintain. APS would sell the energy to its Valley customers and charge Luke a fixed electricity rate under a 25-year agreement. Luke would provide the 101 acres for the project south of its runway…[on] vacant land that otherwise would not have been developed because of regulations to protect Luke flight operations…

"The 52,000 photovoltaic T0 Tracker panels will use blue anti-reflective coatings and no mirrors…[A]ny glare for Air Force jet pilots should be like flying over a lake…A rotating axis system allows the panels to tilt as the sun crosses the sky, capturing 25 percent more energy than if the panels were stationary…"

President Obama touring the 14 MW PV array at Nellis AFB. (click to enlarge)

"Building closer to the metro Phoenix homes it will serve saves APS money on transmission lines and makes the project more efficient because electricity is lost as it is transmitted across distances…The 15-megawatt array will generate power equivalent to running 3,750 Arizona homes at once in direct sunlight.

"APS officials said it will cut more than 19,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year… will cost $68 million or more…[and] will be the largest on government property, eclipsing the 14-megawatt SunPower facility at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, which opened three years ago…"