Save Solar Energy for a Rainy Day

Here in the Arizona desert, it’s never hard to find sunshine, golf coursesor spicy Southwestern cuisine. In an effort to harness the first of that trio, we recently built the Saguaro Solar Trough Power Plant, located near Red Rock, Arizona. Unlike photovoltaic solar plants, which produce electricity directly from sunlight, solar trough technology uses heat from the sun to create electricity. The sun heats oil, which then drives a turbine. The technology can be combined with a storage facility, allowing it to hold energy and provide electricity when needed—even on a rare cloudy day. In 2006, Saguaro, the first solar trough plant ever built in Arizona and the first nationwide in nearly 20 years, was named one of the top 12 power plants in the world by Power Magazine.

• Saguaro Solar Power Plant fact sheet (PDF, 1 page)
• "Power Magazine Names APS Power Plant One of World's Best," August 31, 2006
• "Saguaro Power Plant Shines with More Awards," September 25, 2006
• Power Magazine's Top Plants of 2006
•  "What's So Bad About Big?"  New York Times, March 7, 2007
     Page 1 (PDF, 1.7 MB)
     Page 2 (PDF, 2.7 MB)
     Complete article (Microsoft Word, 52K)
• More information about Renewable Energy

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