Mr. Joseph Barrios reports
TEP SOLAR ARRAY AT FORT HUACHUCA HELPS U.S. ARMY ACHIEVE ENERGY GOALS
Tucson Electric Power (TEP), an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of
Fortis Inc., joined military and federal officials on Feb. 11, 2015, to
dedicate a large solar array at Fort Huachuca that will help the U.S.
Army achieve its renewable energy and energy security goals.
The 17.2-megawatt array, completed in December, produces enough
power to satisfy one-quarter of the base's energy needs, equivalent to
the annual electric usage of about 3,000 homes. The system will offset
approximately 58,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, while reducing
other emissions associated with generating an equivalent amount of power
with fossil fuels.
"This system provides Fort Huachuca with a secure source of clean
renewable power at no additional cost," said David G. Hutchens, TEP's
president and chief executive officer. "We worked closely with leaders
at the base, the Pentagon and the U.S. Army's Office of Energy
Initiatives (OEI) to develop a unique solar solution for a very valuable
TEP customer."
TEP owns and operates the system, which ranks among the largest solar
arrays on any U.S. Department of Defense installation around the world.
Because TEP is combining its output with grid resources to serve the
base under existing rates, the system helps the U.S. Army work toward its
goal of deploying one gigawatt of renewable energy resources by 2025
without increasing the base's energy costs.
"A privately developed solar array could have increased Fort Huachuca's
total energy costs by as much as $2-million per year," said Philip J.
Dion, senior vice-president of public policy and customer solutions for
TEP. "We developed a much more cost-effective solution that preserves
TEP's longstanding role as the sole provider of safe, reliable power for
one of southern Arizona's most critical assets."
E.ON, a partner on other successful TEP solar projects, managed design
and construction of the array. The system is linked to an existing TEP
substation, and any excess output flows back into the company's local
grid for use by other customers.
The Fort Huachuca system adds to a robust renewable energy portfolio
that has earned TEP a place among the nation's leading solar utilities.
TEP has approximately 330 megawatts of total renewable generating capacity,
enough to meet the electric needs of about 70,000 homes.
Solar power plays an important part in TEP's increasingly diverse
generating portfolio. The company is reducing its overall coal
generation capacity by more than 30 per cent over the next five years
through increased use of renewable power, energy efficiency and
natural gas generation, including a recently acquired share of the Gila
River power station in Gila Bend.
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