Arizona County Expects Solar to Provide Millions of Dollars in Savings
Tuesday, October 26th 2010 9:46 AM
By GetSolar Staff.
Pima County in southern Arizona last week unveiled a 1-megawatt solar power system - a project that is expected to produce millions of dollars in savings over the course of its useful life.
The county partnered with solar developer SunEdison to go solar. By entering into a power purchase agreement with the company, Pima County was able to install solar power at no upfront cost. And, because it agreed to buy solar energy for the next 20 years at a fixed rate, it will enjoy significant long-term savings.
County officials expect their solar installation to save between $1.2 million and $2 million on energy over the next two decades.
In addition, solar will help Pima County cut water use by as much as 1.6 million gallons per year. Conventional generating technologies use water-intensive wet-cooling systems - but the solar installation that SunEdison is putting in place will need barely any water to keep cool.
Pima County is slashing energy and water use in other ways, too. The county plans to buy more hybrid vehicles, retrofit old facilities with energy-saving technology and construct new buildings to green standards, county board of supervisors chairman Ramon Valadez said.
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Pima County in southern Arizona last week unveiled a 1-megawatt solar power system - a project that is expected to produce millions of dollars in savings over the course of its useful life.
