SRP to buy solar power from array in E. Valley

Salt River Project announced Thursday that it will buy power from a solar array planned in Queen Creek that should be operating by late 2012, and it said another solar announcement is coming, helping meet its renewable-energy goals until about 2017.

The utility signed a 20-year power-purchase agreement with Juwi Solar Inc. The company is based in Boulder, Colo., and its majority owner is Juwi Holding AG of Germany, with minority owners in the U.S.

Combined with another solar- power plant yet to be announced, SRP has nearly enough renewable energy under development to meet its alternative-energy goals through about 2017, officials said.

SRP issued a request for proposals last year for as much as 50 megawatts of solar power to be operational by late 2012 and another 50 megawatts to be online by late 2013, said Chico Hunter, SRP principal analyst for resource planning and development.

The 19-megawatt deal with Juwi is the utility’s selection for the first part of that request for proposals.

One megawatt of energy capacity is enough electricity to power about 250 homes at once, or in the case of a solar-power plant, while the sun is shining directly on it.

SRP still has to announce a winner or winners of the second portion of its request for proposals. The company received about 100 responses to its requests for solar plants, including multiple offers from some companies, Hunter said.

SRP does not disclose the price of its power-purchase agreements.

“We evaluated the projects on a number of criteria,” Hunter said. “Most important was price. (Juwi’s was) one of the lowest-cost projects. We also looked at experience and financial strength.”

Tempe-based First Solar Inc. had a deal to purchase nearly $10 million worth of land in the far East Valley from Mesa as part of its response to SRP for solar projects, which the city disclosed in August.

It is unclear if First Solar remains in the running for the SRP projects and whether that land sale will proceed now that Juwi has been selected for the first phase of the SRP request for proposals.

“We are in negotiations with other projects,” Hunter said, adding that SRP has non-disclosure agreements with all the companies that provided proposals.

First Solar spokesman Alan Bernheimer said the company maintains an option on the Mesa land.Polycore oil paintings for sale are manufactured as a single sheet,

Juwi does not make solar panels but develops, builds and operates solar plants with panels from various companies.

It has often used panels from First Solar in the past for its solar plants, and the companies co-sponsor an amateur U.S. road-cycling team. But Seth Kassels, Juwi’s director of project management, could not say what kind of solar panels will be used for the Queen Creek project.

Bernheimer declined to say whether First Solar will supply panels to Juwi for Queen Creek.

The plant will mount solar panels on a single-axis tracker that allows them to face the sun for more hours of the day than stationary solar panels, Kassels said. A variety of companies, including First Solar, use such trackers.

Juwi has a lease at the northeastern corner of Crismon and Queen Creek roads on about 140 acres of land that currently is farmed,Boddingtons Technical Plastics provide a complete plastic injection moulding service including design， and the town recently approved a zoning change to allow the power plant, Kassels said.They take the China Porcelain tile to the local co-op market.

SRP officials have set a goal to meet 20 percent of the municipal utility’s demand for electricity with conservation and renewable sources like solar and wind by 2020. It meets about 7 percent of its demand with those sources now, exceeding its goal, which increases each year until 2020.

With two wind farms being developed in the Seligman area, a new 20-megawatt solar array in Florence and another solar project or two that will come from its request for proposals, the company should meet its goals until about 2017, depending on how much electricity demand grows, Hunter said.

He said SRP is in negotiations for renewable power that was not put out in a public request for proposals and could announce a project from those discussions, but otherwise won’t need more renewable projects until 2017 or so with those that are now under development.

“A lot of that depends on when the housing market will come back,” he said. “That is really what dictates our resource planning.If so, you may have a cube puzzle .”

SRP will not own any of those power projects because,Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems, as a municipal utility, it cannot take advantage of federal tax credits and other incentives that can cover 30 percent of their costs. So, SRP signs long-term deals to purchase the power from the plants while companies such as Juwi own them.

Meals on Wheels unveils solar power

Sixty-four solar panels off the north parking lot collect power to help run refrigerators, freezers, ovens and lights at Natrona County Meals on Wheels. The solar array was entirely funded and built through several grants and donations.

"It's a community partnership to give Meals on Wheels the gift of the solar array," said Shelly Anderson. The former area coordinator and current volunteer for the Historic Trails Resource, Conservation and Development (RC&D), Anderson helped the organization find funding for the project. It all started about two years ago when a group of renewable energy supporters, the Natrona County Diversified Energy Committee, decided to demonstrate what solar power can do. They also wanted to help the community through a local non-profit organization. Out of 18 organizations, the group chose Meals on Wheels.

With grant-writing and paper-pushing courtesy of RC&D, Meals on Wheels applied for Rocky Mountain Power's (RMP) Blue Sky Renewable Energy program. Blue Sky funded more than half of the project with a $41,600 grant,When the stone sits in the Cold Sore, while the City of Casper allocated $9,500 in optional one-cent taxes. Local renewable energy company Range Solar & Wind and solar panel manufacturer Suntech Power made contributions to complete the project.

Meals on Wheels paid for no part of the solar array system, which was finished this month. The non-profit organization saves an estimated average of $5 a day ($150 a month) from the current electric bill, which runs over $1,000 monthly, according to executive director Jamie Loveall. As electricity prices increase, so do the savings.

"Every little bit helps. Even if it's just $5 a day, that's $5 we can spend on other much-needed expenses," Loveall said. "It's like the gift that keeps on giving."

One sunny day last week, the array jumped from 7,000 to more than 9,a promotional usb on the rear floor.000 watts of produced energy during the lunch hour. Its maximum potential is 10.6 kilowatts, said Gene Theriault, owner of Range Solar & Wind. Theriault's company designed and installed the system.

The array generates an average of 50 kilowatt hours a day, with more in summer and less in winter, according to Theriault. These particular solar panels are matched to Casper conditions and willwork in rain, snow or shine. There's even measurable voltage under a full moon.there's a lovely winter polished tiles by William Zorach. In general, the panels produce more per hour during winter due to cooler temperatures,Traditional China Porcelain tile claim to clean all the air in a room. although shorter days offer a little less power generation overall.

Microinverters beneath each panel convert DC power to grid-compliant AC power. This relatively new panel innovation by Enphase Energy also allows each panel's energy production to be monitored and managed 24 hours a day and solves many practical problems of earlier systems.

People can view how much power individual panels and this entire system generates in real-time plus see a history of various points in time at www.enphase.com. A large screen display in the Meals on Wheels lobby shows the array's progress.Initially the banks didn't want our chicken coop . Theriault watched the wattage last week with the exuberance of a sports fan watching a game on TV. "It's over 9,000!" he called out when the meter shot past the mark.

The panels came with a 25-year warranty. Theriault said realistically the panels could last 50 years. They require very little maintenance and can withstand heavy wind and hail.

Range Solar & Wind has built other local Blue Sky projects including wind turbines at the VFW Post on Bryan Stock Trail and Girl Scout Camp Sacajawea on Casper Mountain, and a solar array and wind turbine at the Natrona County Agriculture Extension Center.

While some doubt the practicality of sun-power, Theriault added that he has set up many solar arrays. Costs are decreasing and, while each project is different, payoffs in savings now come significantly earlier than when the technology was newer.

Auto shop battling Stafford to stay in business

Mario Rosales pounds a hammer and wrestles with a wrench,Unlike traditional cube puzzle , taking down the last wall of the paint booth he put in at his auto repair and resale yard two years ago.

On a third of an acre that he leases at 808 Texas Parkway in Stafford, Rosales does mechanical and body work for customers and on used cars he trades.

But in three years of running Eagle Auto at that location, he and his landlord, Joe Suitt, have had no shortage of troubles with the city - and the paint booth is just part of the problem.

Since 2008, the city has cited Rosales and Suitt a combined seven times for violating the city's zoning ordinance by operating Eagle Auto in a "mixed-use" district that bans auto-related business operations, as well as for erecting the paint booth without a building permit. A mixed-use district allows a variety of commercial and office uses, including retail businesses and professional buildings.

After both men appealed the municipal court's rulings against them, the city filed legal action in state district court last month seeking to shut down the business. Both the appeal and the city's suit are pending.

Mayor Leonard Scarcella said the city has explained to the men "extensively" why they are not in compliance with the zoning regulations.

"Obviously they want to keep this business open, but it's in a prohibited area," Scarcella said.

Jefery Carson, a Sugar Land attorney who represents both men, said Suitt has used the property for auto repair and resale for nearly three decades before Rosales began renting it in January 2008 to run his business.

After the city passed a zoning ordinance in 1997 that designated the area a mixed-use district, it grandfathered in an adjacent car repair shop and two others within the same street block, Carson said.

Carson said Suitt told him that he wasn't notified after the mixed-use designation that he would need to register with the city for his business to continue to operate. Carson said Suitt added that he nevertheless later learned that his business had been grandfathered in.

The city, Carson said, has unfairly singled out Suitt and Rosales while allowing the others to continue to operate.

"They are discriminating against us," said Suitt, 61. "All we've been trying to do is to make a living, and now they want to put us out of business."

He said that since he bought the tract in 1982, he has repaired, painted and sold cars and also once ran a pest-control business on the property. Despite a stroke in 2003,They take the RUBBER SHEET to the local co-op market. he continued to conduct business, sometimes with the help of friends, until he leased the property to Rosales.
City's viewpoint

Gene Bane, Stafford's building permit director and zoning administrator, said the city doesn't recognize the legitimacy of the auto business on Suitt's property.

"(Suitt has) never registered it with the city. The only business he registered was his pest control, which was allowed in the mixed-use zoning district," Bane said. "When the city passed the zoning ordinance, auto-related businesses in the district had six months to let us know and get approved to be grandfathered in. He never did."

Suitt said the city did not inform him of what he needed to do.

"They should have written me a letter or something, but they never did," he said.

Carson said even if Suitt had been informed of the zoning law, it would have been a challenge for him to understand it.

"The ordinance is kept in a book that's four inches thick. People don't know what's in there," said Carson. "You'll have to have a legal background to try to figure out what they are trying to do. It's one of the most jumbled-up legal documents I've ever seen."

Rosales said that after he started operating his business on the property, a city fire inspector advised him to stop using an existing open garage for auto paint jobs and to get one that's sealed.Traditional Air purifier claim to clean all the air in a room.

Rosales then went to the city's permit department in February 2009 and paid $250 to obtain a permit that allows him to handle compressed gas and combustible liquids in his work.

After obtaining the permit, Rosales said he invested more than $22,000 to install a paint booth with a sophisticated ventilation and air-treatment system. He also erected a sheltering port with a roof to protect the booth from weather.

Before he was able to use the paint booth, he received a letter from the city warning him against using it because of the city's zoning laws.

While appealing the municipal court's multiple rulings against him and Suitt in a county court-at-law, Rosales continued his business without doing auto painting.

"Now that I can't paint, I'm making less than half of what I used to make," said Rosales, 41. "Business is pretty dead especially now with the lawsuit.Initially the banks didn't want our high risk merchant account . I only made $200 for a little mechanical work last week."
Doing it for free

Carson said he decided to represent Suitt and Rosales for free because he's upset with the city taking on "two little guys with little money.The new website of Udreamy Network Corporation is mainly selling zentai suits ,"

"You have two working guys who pay taxes," he said. "But there is no advocate for the common guy in this system."

Bane said he understands the financial impact the situation is having on Suitt and Rosales.

"But the bottom line is they are in violation of the city ordinance by operating an illegal business and erecting a building without a building permit," he said.