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

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Last week’s announcement that and Global LLC were collaborating ona 290-megawatr facility about 75 milez west of Phoenix means Arizona contractoras will get some of the said Chris Myers, Lockheedr Martin’s vice president for energy programs. The companies stil are evaluating subcontractors for theproposed $1.5 billiohn power plant, dubbed Starwood Solar I. Some work, such as creating the mirrored troughs that will focusthe sun’ss energy, typically is done by specialized companies, Myersz said, but there will be plenty “We’re going to do a lot of the work here in he said.
Steel manufacturing and other industriesw could benefit from an increased Arizona focus onsolad construction. Starwood and Lockheed Martibn estimate 1,000 jobs will be created as a resulg ofthe construction, and an additiona 6,000 could result from supplier relationships. The companies plan to hold recruitmeng events this summer to inform local companies aboufthe opportunities, Myers said. In the meantime, the companyt is using a newly launchedWeb www.starwoodsolar.com, to distribute information and tell businessees how they can get involvedx with the project. The construction also will require infrastructurse upgrades at transmission facilities to tie inwith Starwood’ss facility.
Included in those upgrades will be work at Arizonaz PublicService Co.’s Delaney which Starwood will fund up front. APS, which has agreed to purchase power from thesolare plant, has funds earmarke d in its 2012 budget for expanding the Delaney “To bring in something that large, thers are going to have to be said Stephen Zaminski, Starwood’s executivw vice president and managing director. Starwood operates abouft 40 other power plants and owns all or part of severall transmission routes throughfive states.
It begahn its partnership with Lockheed about 18 months ago as both lookex for a site fora utility-scale Starwood runs its solar operations via subsidiary Nautilus Solatr LLC, which has done several large commercial-scale but nothing as big as what the two are attemptinhg in the Harquahala Valley. The two companies believe theirt combined relationships with financial institutions will help them overcoms the financing hurdles that have stalled severall othersolar projects.
Some major project announcements of the past few yeare have been delayed because companies that signeddealsw couldn’t take the next step toward developinfg a commercial product, said Madison vice chairman and senior managing directorr for Starwood. “The folks who take it to commercializationn have torealize there’s a different skill set needed to take it to the next he said. Another hurdled is getting financial institutions and utilities comfortable enough with the solat concept that they view it the same way as traditionalopower plants, Grose said.
The companies are planning to spen d the summer conducting public meetings on the projec t with submissions to the ArizonasCorporation Commission, which must approve the powed purchase deal by this fall, said Brad Nordholm, CEO and managingf director of Starwood. The company hopes to get its buildinfg permits and ACC approvals settledby mid-2010, get its financing in placw and move forward with construction by the latter half of that Nordholm said.