Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Two U.S. Solar Financing Deals To Benefit Arizona, Colorado
Two, federal conditional loan guarantees announced Saturday by President Obama are benefiting the solar industry in both Arizona and Colorado, in a big way. According to President Obama on Saturday, the U.S. government is providing a $1.45 billion loan guarantee to finance the construction and start-up of a concentrating solar power facility in Solana, Arizona for Abengoa Solar; and will provide a loan guarantee of $400 million to a solar power firm, Abound Solar, to help build out a plan in Longmont, Colorado, along with another plant in Indiana.
According to President Obama, the Abengoa plant in Arizona will add around 250 megawatts of capacity to the electric grid, enough to supply clean energy to approximately 70,000 homes. The power will be sold through a long-term, power purchase agreement with the Arizona Public Services company, employing around 1,600 workers in construction and creating over 80 permanent jobs.
In the deal with Abound Solar, the loan will go towards manufacturing technology for Cadmium-Telluride solar panels, which will be built in Longmont and also in Tipton, Indiana. That deal is expected to create approximately 2,000 jobs from construction, and 1,500 permanent jobs. Abound's technology was developed by Colorado State University, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the National Science Foundation. The plants are expected to add around 840 megawatts (MW) of solar panels each year.