Arizona Public Service Assigns SunEdison to Develop Two Solar Power Plants

Arizona Public Service (APS) announced that it has awarded contracts to SunEdison for building two solar photovoltaic plants. The total capacity of the solar energy plants is 37 MW. After SunEdison completes the development of the plants, APS will take over the ownership.

The two solar power plants are situated in the Chino Valley and Hyder. The Hyder solar plant will have a capacity of 17 MW, while the Chino Valley plant will have a capacity of 20 MW. These two plants increase the clean energy portfolio of APS to about 682 MW by the year 2013. Both the plants are being developed under the AZ Sun program of APS.

The construction for the Hyder solar project is likely to start in June 2011 and completed in the last quarter of 2011. The construction for the Chino Valley plant is expected to commence and complete in the first and the fourth quarter of 2012, respectively.

Under the AZ Sun program, APS has planned to develop 100 MW photovoltaic energy plants that are utility-owned. The company is using a procurement model in which a third party will construct the solar energy plants, and APS will take the ownership after the construction is completed.