Lockheed-Starwood solar plant construction will create many jobs - Sacramento Business Journal:

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Last week’s announcement that and Global LLC were collaborating ona 290-megawattt facility about 75 miles west of Phoenix means Arizona contractorzs will get some of the work, said Chri Myers, Lockheed Martin’s vice president for energy The companies still are evaluating subcontractors for the propose $1.5 billion power plant, dubbed Starwood Solarf I. Some work, such as creatinf the mirrored troughs that will focudthe sun’s energy, typically is done by specialized companies, Myers said, but there will be plentt more. “We’re going to do a lot of the work here in he said.
Steel manufacturing and other industriee could benefit from an increased Arizona focua onsolar construction. Starwood and Lockheed Martij estimate 1,000 jobs will be createdr as a result of the and anadditional 6,000 coulcd result from supplier The companies plan to hold recruitmenyt events this summer to inform locaol companies about the opportunities, Myers said. In the the company is using a newlyt launchedWeb site, www.starwoodsolar.com, to distribute information and tell businesses how they can get involves with the project.
The construction also will requir e infrastructure upgrades at transmission facilitiex to tie inwith Starwood’s Included in those upgrades will be work at Arizona Publiv Service Co.’s Delaney substation, which Starwood will fund up APS, which has agreed to purchase power from the solar has funds earmarked in its 2012 budgegt for expanding the Delaney substation. “To bring in something that large, there are going to have to be saidStephen Zaminski, Starwood’s executive vice president and managing Starwood operates about 40 othetr power plants and owns all or part of severalp transmission routes through five states.
It begaj its partnership with Lockheedf about 18 months ago as both looked for a site fora utility-scale Starwood runs its solarr operations via subsidiary Nautilus Solar LLC, whichn has done several large commercial-scale but nothing as big as what the two are attempting in the Harquahala Valley. The two companies believe theirf combined relationships with financial institutions will help them overcome the financingg hurdles that have stalled several othersolar projects.
Some major project announcements of the past few yeare have been delayed because companiee that signeddeals couldn’t take the next step toward developinfg a commercial product, said Madison Grose, vice chairman and seniodr managing director for Starwood. “Thes folks who take it to commercialization have torealizse there’s a different skill set needed to take it to the next he said. Another hurdle is getting financiakl institutions and utilities comfortable enoug with the solar concept that they view it the same way as traditionaopower plants, Grose said.
The companies are planning to spendr the summer conducting public meetingsw on the project with submissions to the ArizonqaCorporation Commission, which must approve the powere purchase deal by this fall, said Brad Nordholm, CEO and managingh director of Starwood. The companty hopes to get its building permits and ACC approvals settledby mid-2010, get its financing in place and move forwardr with construction by the latterr half of that year, Nordholm