Massive solar plant proposed in Carbon County, Pennsylvania
By Sandy Bauers, Inquirer Staff Writer, Aug. 8, 2008
Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/health_science/daily/
20080808_Massive_solar_plant_proposed_in_Carbon_County.html
When John F. Curtis III looks at the heart of Pennsylvania’s anthracite country, he doesn’t see a blighted landscape or a heyday long gone. He envisions the second-largest solar power plant in the nation. Yesterday, Curtis and state officials announced a $65 million solar project on 100 fallow acres in one of Carbon County’s oldest mining towns, Nesquehoning. It would generate 10.6 megawatts of power, enough to increase the state’s current solar output by a factor of 10 and provide electricity for 1,450 households. If he gets the money.
Curtis, who founded the Conshohocken renewable-energy development firm Green Energy Capital Partners in March 2007, acknowledged he had neither all the financing nor a purchasing agreement for the power the facility would produce. Further, the project hinges on Congress’ reauthorizing a federal tax credit of 30 percent for such projects. Curtis said he also needed money from the state’s recently passed $650 million energy independence bill. How residents and companies would get the money has not been decided yet.
But he said he was “confident everything will be financed in short order.” He said purchase orders for 46,000 solar panels – to be mounted on 912 trackers that would follow the sun, east to west – were pending, and he expects to break ground in March. Commercial operation could begin by the end of 2009, he said.
Meanwhile, supporters were jubilant. “Now you have, right in the heart of coal country, the beginning of the solar century,” said John Hanger, president of Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, an advocacy group. Hanger also called the project “the fruit” of Gov. Rendell’s recently passed energy policy. “It couldn’t happen at a better time, it couldn’t be a bigger vote of confidence for Pennsylvania’s alternative energy policies,” he said. “This is really big.”
Pennsylvania still has a long way to go to catch New Jersey. Because of the Garden State’s strong rebate program, nearly 3,000 solar installations deliver 54 megawatts of power. Still, Monique Hanis, spokeswoman for the Solar Energy Industries Association, an industry group, confirmed that the Carbon County facility would be the second-largest of its kind in the United States, after the 14-megawatt solar installation at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas.
State Rep. Keith R. McCall (D., Carbon) said the facility would bring 50 jobs to the area. More than that, “to think that we’re still sitting on probably 300 to 500 years of coal reserves . . . it just shows that we’re trying to be innovative.” The culture decades ago was one of coal-baron millionaires and miners who died from what their widows called “the black lung.”
“The legacy of coal was one that when they left, they left the scarred landscape behind as well,” McCall said. “It was difficult to get anybody to take a second look at Carbon County.” “The reality is, we are putting the nuts and bolts together on the [state’s] entire energy package, but that will come to fruition,” McCall said. “Just a commitment letter from the governor would suffice for the company to get the proper financing to make this thing work.” The property is owned by Kovatch Enterprises, which builds fire trucks and emergency vehicles and is Carbon County’s largest employer.
Though Pennsylvania is hardly the sunniest spot in the nation, its “renewable portfolio standards” make it attractive for solar, wind and other renewable energies. The standards require utilities to generate or buy a percentage of their power from renewable sources – equal to 850 megawatts by 2021. “What we’re doing fits hand in glove with the requirements,” said Curtis, who has 20 years of experience in medical and information technology marketing and who recently was Eastern U.S. development manager for UPC Solar of Chicago.
Analysts say 850 megawatts cannot be met by rooftop installations on homes and small business, and the trend has been toward utility-scale projects. A 1.4-megawatt facility is planned for the former Philadelphia Navy Yard, and a 3-megawatt facility is under construction in Falls Township next to the GROWS landfill.