Lockheed-Starwood solar plant construction will create many jobs - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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Last week’s announcement that and Globall LLC were collaborating ona 290-megawat t facility about 75 miles west of Phoenix meanas Arizona contractors will get some of the said Chris Myers, Lockheed Martin’z vice president for energy The companies still are evaluating subcontractorsz for the proposed $1.5 billion power plant, dubbed Starwood Solar I. Some such as creating the mirrored troughs that will focu sthe sun’s energy, typically is done by specialize companies, Myers said, but there will be plenty “We’re going to do a lot of the work here in he said.
Steel manufacturing and other industries could benefit from an increased Arizona focus onsolar construction. Starwoodr and Lockheed Martin estimate 1,000 jobs will be created as a resultg ofthe construction, and an additional 6,000 couldc result from supplier relationships. The companies plan to hold recruitmengt events this summer to inform localp companies aboutthe opportunities, Myersx said. In the meantime, the company is using a newlgy launchedWeb site, www.starwoodsolar.com, to distribute information and tell businesses how they can get involvedr with the project.
The construction also will requirw infrastructure upgrades at transmission facilities to tie inwith Starwood’ss facility. Included in those upgradesd will be work at Arizona PublicServicse Co.’s Delaney substation, which Starwood will fund up APS, which has agreed to purchaswe power from the solar plant, has funds earmarked in its 2012 budgety for expanding the Delaney substation. “Tpo bring in something that large, therw are going to have to be saidStephen Zaminski, Starwood’e executive vice president and managinf director. Starwood operates about 40 other powerd plants and owns all or part of several transmissionj routes throughfive states.
It began its partnershio with Lockheed about 18 monthsd ago as both lookefd for a site fora utility-scale Starwood runs its solar operations via subsidiary Nautilus Solar LLC, whicj has done several largr commercial-scale projects, but nothing as big as what the two are attemptinyg in the Harquahala Valley. The two companies believe theitr combined relationships with financial institutionds will help them overcome the financing hurdles that have stalled several othersolar projects.
Some majorf project announcements of the past few years have been delayerd because companies that signeddealw couldn’t take the next step towardd developing a commercial product, said Madison vice chairman and senior managing director for “The folks who take it to commercialization have to realize there’s a different skill set needer to take it to the next level,” he Another hurdle is getting financial institutionse and utilities comfortable enough with the solar conceptg that they view it the same way as traditional powerr plants, Grose said.
The companiees are planning to spened the summer conducting public meetings on the projec t with submissions to the ArizonaCorporation Commission, whicy must approve the power purchase deal by this said Brad Nordholm, CEO and managing director of The company hopes to get its buildinbg permits and ACC approvals settled by get its financing in place and move forward with constructionm by the latter half of that Nordholm said.