By Vernon Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Band of Paiutes, in coordination with renewable energy company RES Americas, is proposing to add another commercial grade solar power generating facility to the tribal lands. The proposed project would generate 200 megawatts (MW) of electricity and would be built on 1,000 acres of the Moapa Indian Reservation. This acreage is proposed to be brought under a 30 year lease to renewable energy company, RES America, to build and operate the plant.
This will be the second solar energy project to enter the pipeline at the reservation in recent years. Earlier this summer, the tribe received final approval from federal agencies for a 350 MW solar facility to be built on 2,000 acres of reservation land located directly across Interstate 15 from the Paiute Travel Plaza. That facility, to be built and operated by K Road, is currently awaiting a power purchasing agreement from a utility. Once that is obtained, it will be clear to begin construction.
But on Tuesday, August 21, the Paiutes, along with federal regulatory agencies, held a scoping meeting to begin the process for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to eventually approve another solar plant to be built by RES Americas.
The proposed site for the plant is on the southeast corner of the reservation boundary. All of the generating facility would be contained within the tribal lands. But the project would include two power transmission lines to connect it to the regional power grid. The first transmission line would extend south from the facility, across BLM land, to hook in near the Harry Allen Power Station at Apex. The second line would extend south across BLM land, to connect into the Crystal Substation just west of I-15. An access road would also be built connecting the facility with a frontage road in the area.
The solar plant proposes to use a variety of solar generating technologies. Roughly 550 acres would be set aside for photovoltaic (PV) generating technology. This technology uses a vast array of PV cells to convert sunlight directly into energy.
According to RES Americas officials, the advantage to PV technology is that it requires very little water in its operation. They estimate that only 50 acre feet of water would be needed per year on this portion of the facility. This is mainly for the regular cleaning and maintenance of the PV cells.
An acre foot is 325,853 gallons or roughly enough water to service one average Moapa Valley household for a year.
On the other hand, the disadvantage to PV technology is that it immediately stops working when sunlight is absent. If a cloud passes in front of the sun in the middle of the day, all power generation immediately stops at the plant.
The other 450 acres of the proposed facility would utilize another solar technology which is referred to as Concentrated Solar Power (CSP).
RES America is currently looking at two possible CSP technologies.
The first, called Areva technology, involves hundreds of mirrors all focusing the sun’s light on a long tube, elevated 50 feet above the ground, which is filled with liquid water. The idea is that the focused and reflected sunlight heats the water in the tube to boiling, creating steam. The steam is then used to turn a steam turbine which generates electricity.
The second CSP technology being considered is called ESolar. Similarly, the mirrors are focused on a tower that is roughly 250 feet tall. In the tower is a large tank of water which is heated into steam. The steam is then used to turn a turbine and create electricity.
Experts explained that the benefit to these CSP methods is that they both would continue to operate for a time if the sun were not directly shining on the mirrors. If the same cloud passes in front of the sun, for example, it would take a period time for the water to cool. During that time, the plant could still generate electricity.
But the disadvantage to CSP technology is that it requires a good deal of water to generate power. The CSP portion of the proposed facility would require an estimated 800 acre feet per year to operate, according to RES America officials.
In the current proposal, that water would come from a well in the area with permitted water rights owned by the Paiute band.
Which technology will be used in the final build-out? RES Americas representative Daniel Menahem explained that it would most likely be a mixture of a couple of different methods.
“We are looking to build a lot of market flexibility into the proposal for the eventual purchasing utility,” Menahem said. “There are advantages to each technology. There are advantages in price and efficiency; and at the end of the day, it will be the preference of the customer.”
Amy Huslein of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Western Regional Office explained that the federal environmental approval process would be detailed in seeking all of the potential impacts of such a facility. She stated that special consideration would be made for the endangered desert tortoise in the area. Also cultural and archaeological surveys of the site would be completed in order to assess whether there were sensitive cultural spots on the site.
In her comments, Huslein outlined the timeframe for the EIS process. With Tuesday’s meeting, the Scoping Process had begun and the public was now invited to make comments or ask questions, she said.
A draft EIS is expected to be completed by April 2013 and the final document to be completed by October 2013, Huslein said.
Moapa Band of Paiutes Chairman, William Anderson, hailed the project as good for the tribe and for the surrounding community as well.
“It will bring economic development to the tribe and jobs to the surrounding community,” Anderson said.
“It is great to be able to generate power on the reservation without polluting the ground or the water or the air; as well as our own people,” Anderson added. “It is great for us to be able to set that kind of example of renewable energy in the area.”
