Clean Energy

Arizona Clean Technology Business Leaders Urge Secretary Salazar to Support Transition to Clean Energy Business Leaders
Send Joint Letter to Washington

(Phoenix) – In the wake of recent news of nearly $1 billion in federal loan guarantees for an Arizona solar project, 12 Arizona clean energy business leaders have written to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, encouraging him to continue to be a leader in the transition to clean energy on public, private, and tribal lands to benefit Arizona’s economy, communities, and environment…

“Solar is the fastest growing industry in the U.S., employing some 100,000 people nationwide, and along with other renewable energy sources and green technologies has become a significant economic driver in Arizona,” said Diane Brossart of Arizona Forward, a newly-formed business coalition focused on a statewide sustainability agenda… “Arizona’s entire economic base has changed – growth and development is no longer only about real estate and construction – it’s about clean energy and green jobs.”

As an example of Arizona’s burgeoning clean energy economy, the Department of Energy announced this month that it has finalized a $967-million loan guarantee to support construction of a 290-megawatt solar power plant, called Agua Caliente Solar, in Yuma County, Arizona. The project will use thin-film solar panels manufactured by Tempe-based First Solar, Inc.
Read the Release:
Clean Technology Release

In their letter to the Interior Secretary, the business leaders asked the secretary to work with them to “create local jobs while protecting our national treasures,” adding that “Arizona has some of the best clean energy resources in the nation but we are behind other states in harnessing new energy development.
Read the letter:
Letter to Salazar

ASU Taking Lead Role in Solar Research research.

ASU’s School of Engineering has received $18.5 million in funding from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy to find economically viable and sustainable ways to speed up the commercialization of engineering advances in solar power. ASU researchers will work with the California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Delaware and the University of New Mexico on the project.

Arizona’s clean technology business leaders and the education community are stepping up to the challenges of transitioning to a clean energy economy.
For More Information:
ASU Solar News

Arizona Solar Project Gets a $967 Million DOE Loan Guarantee
August 10, 2011
DOE announced on August 5 that it has finalized a $967 million loan
guarantee to Agua Caliente Solar, LLC, for a solar photovoltaic
generating facility in Arizona. The loan guarantee will support the
construction of a 290-megawatt solar power plant, called Agua Caliente Solar, in Yuma County. The project will use thin-film solar panels manufactured by First Solar, Inc. Sponsor NRG Solar LLC estimates the loan guarantee will fund approximately 400 construction jobs and 10 full-time operating jobs at the plant, one of the largest of its kind in the world.

Agua Caliente will deploy innovative technologies new to U.S. solar
power plants to improve the reliability and predictability of the
electricity supplied to the electricity grid. Pacific Gas & Electric
Company will purchase power generated from the project for California
consumers. DOE’s Loan Programs Office has issued loans or loan
guarantees, or offered conditional commitments for loan guarantees
totaling more than $40 billion to support 42 clean energy projects
across the United States. See the DOE press release and the Loan
Programs Office website.
More Here:
Agua Caliente/First Solar Project