www.azstarnet.com
10.21.2009
Arizona's first commercial windfarm made the state the fastest growing in the nation's wind industry in the third quarter of 2009. Arizona has now joined 35 other states with utility-scale wind-power plants. However, it remains near the back of the pack in total energy capacity at 63 MWs (million watts), tied with Hawaii. Texas again gained the largest amount of new capacity, for a total of 8,797 MWs, the American Wind Energy Association said Tuesday in its third-quarter 2009 market report.
Arizona's next big wind project, however, may not be far off. Tucson-based UniSource Energy Corp, announced this week that a subsidiary has agreed to buy power from an integrated wind- and solar energy project planned near Kingman in Mojave County. Western Wind Energy Corp, could get permits within two or three months to build the project on fully zoned land it already owns, said Mike Boyd, a Western representative in Tucson. The project is to be finished by June 2011. Securing a purchase agreement with a major utility is a key test of an alternative energy project's viability.
The agreement with Western Wind is with UniSource Energy Services, which provides electricity to more than 90,000 customers in Santa Cruz and Mohave counties, as well as natural gas to nearly 146,000 customers in Mohave, Yavapai, Coconino, Navajo and Santa Cruz counties. Under the agreement, Western Wind would deliver up to 11 MWs, including at least 300 kWs from photovoltaic solar panels. The rest would come from wind. The agreement calls for UniSource to purchase power from Western Wind Energy's facilities over a 20-year term, in a contract that will be submitted to the Arizona Corporation Commission for review.
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