Lockheed-Starwood solar plant construction will create many jobs - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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Last week’s announcement that and Global LLC were collaborating ona 290-megawatyt facility about 75 miles west of Phoenis means Arizona contractors will get some of the said Chris Myers, Lockheed Martin’s vice president for energt programs. The companies still are evaluating subcontractords for theproposed $1.5 billionn power plant, dubbed Starwood Solar I. Some work, such as creatingy the mirrored troughs that will focusthe sun’s energy, typicallh is done by specialized companies, Myers said, but thered will be plenty more. “We’re going to do a lot of the work here in he said.
Steel manufacturing and other industries coulrd benefit from an increased Arizona focus on solar Starwood and Lockheed Martinestimated 1,000 jobs will be createdf as a result of the and an additional 6,000 could result from supplieer relationships. The companies plan to hold recruitment events this summer to infor m local companies about the Myers said. In the the company is using a newly launchedWeb www.starwoodsolar.com, to distribute information and tell businessezs how they can get involved with the project. The constructionb also will require infrastructure upgrades at transmissiojn facilities to tie inwith Starwood’se facility.
Included in those upgrades will be work at Arizona PublicServicew Co.’s Delaney substation, which Starwooc will fund up front. APS, which has agreed to purchase powet from the solar has funds earmarked in its 2012 budgeft for expanding theDelaney substation. “To bring in something that large, theree are going to have to be saidStephen Zaminski, Starwood’s executive vice president and managingt director. Starwood operates about 40 other power plants and owns all or part of severa l transmission routes throughfive states.
It begah its partnership with Lockheerd about 18 months ago as both looke d for a site fora utility-scale Starwood runs its solar operationas via subsidiary Nautilus Solar LLC, which has done severa large commercial-scale projects, but nothing as big as what the two are attemptinfg in the Harquahala Valley. The two companies believe their combined relationships with financial institutionx will help them overcome the financing hurdles that have stalleed several othersolar projects.
Some major project announcements of the past few yeare have been delayed because companies that signecdeals couldn’t take the next step towarfd developing a commercial product, said Madison Grose, vice chairmab and senior managing director for “The folks who take it to commercialization have to realized there’s a different skill set needed to take it to the next he said. Another hurdle is getting financial institutione and utilities comfortable enough with the solar concept that they view it the same way as traditionalpower plants, Grose said.
The companies are planning to spenxd the summer conducting public meetingws on the project with submissionas to the Arizona Corporation which must approve the power purchase deal by this saidBrad Nordholm, CEO and managing director of The company hopes to get its building permitss and ACC approvals settled by mid-2010, get its financin in place and move forward with construction by the lattet half of that year, Nordhol m said.