Site outside Milford chosen for experimental geothermal power project

The federal government is planning to spend up to $140 million toward plans at the University of Utah to research and develop a new method for extracting geothermal energy from the earth. The U.S. Department of Energy picked the windswept area northwest of Cedar City to expand the Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy, or FORGE, with hopes of developing a more efficient way to use the earth's heat to meet electricity needs.

The plan involves drilling two 8,000-foot wells into the ground beneath the site. Water is sent underground into the heat of the earth and then drawn back up to the surface, where its steam can be used to move a turbine and generate electricity. The Spectrum

Rocky Mountain Power funds middle school renewable energy project

Rocky Mountain Power presented North Sanpete Middle School with a check for $576,224 to launch the largest Blue Sky renewable energy project in over a decade. The project includes a 206-kilowatt solar array that will generate approximately 80 percent of the school’s energy. The project also includes an electric vehicle charging station and a battery energy storage system that will be charged using excess solar power during the day as it helps meet the school’s energy needs even on cloudy days. Deseret News

Magnum proposes to rezone to heavy industrial

Magnum Development will propose changes at a Millard County Planning and Zoning Commission meeting that would allow solar and wind energy systems. Magnum has developed commercial-scale underground bulk cavern storage 10 miles north of Delta, part of the Western Energy Hub plan. These solution-mined caverns are capable of storing natural gas, compressed air, and liquid energy products underground.

This unique storage technology has the potential of efficiently integrating the generation and transmission of renewable power to and from the Western United States. With access to both the interstate rail and highway systems — and with direct access to natural gas pipeline systems — this central hub component is also located by a high voltage transmission grid offering exclusive energy options.

Magnum has developed commercial-scale underground bulk cavern storage 10 miles north of Delta, part of the Western Energy Hub plan. These solution-mined caverns are capable of storing natural gas, compressed air, and liquid energy products underground. Millard County Chronicle Progress

Gunnison land use amendment opens door to solar energy

Gunnison City has passed a temporary land use regulation allowing commercial-scale solar energy facilities in the city and has approved a conditional use permit for the first solar installation on land owned by ACT Aerospace.

The council took the action even though it would result in a loss to Gunnison City of approximately $20,000 per year, because the city would no longer receive franchise fees on power Rocky Mountain Power sells to ACT. According to discussion at the council meeting, about $6,000 per year would come in from property taxes on the installation, but that would still leave a net revenue loss to the city. Currently, power franchise fees are earmarked for subsidizing the Gunnison swimming pool.

The temporary land use regulation, which was approved for 180 days, opens the door for commercial-scale solar generating facilities to be built in the Gunnison industrial park at the north end of the city. The new regulation does not allow solar-power generation in any other zone and does not approve it for residential use. The temporary regulation was the first hurdle in ACT going solar, which it plans to do by bringing in an independent solar power development company, which will be called Gunnison Solar, LLC.

Gunnison Solar plans to build a solar panel array on 13 acres of ACT land and then lease the solar equipment to ACT. ACT will then draw power from the solar installation with the goal of meeting 85 percent of its power needs. Even with the temporary land use regulation approved, a conditional use permit is required for each individual facility, leaving who can and can’t install a solar array in the city at the discretion of the city council. Sanpete Messenger

Rocky Mountain Power funding Sanpete Solar Project

Rocky Mountain Power has awarded Blue Sky funding for three renewable projects, including a contribution to a large solar array and battery storage system at North Sanpete Middle School in Moroni. The Sanpete Middle School will receive $576,224 to build a 206 kilowatt solar array, as well as a 32 kilowatt-hour battery storage system and electric vehicle charging station. The battery system will be charged using excess solar power during the day and help meet the school’s energy needs when the sun isn’t shining. Deseret News

Rocky Mountain Power announces solar subscriber program for Millard Solar Farm

The state's largest electric provider is launching a new alternative energy program. Rocky Mountain Power announced an agreement with German energy developer juwi to build the utility’s first Subscriber Solar program resource. The 20 megawatt solar farm will be located in the Millard County town of Holden.

The alternative energy program was approved by the Utah Public Service Commission in October 2015. Customers will be able to subscribe to receive some or all of their electricity from solar power. Deseret News

Massive green-energy project taps salt caverns near Delta

A massive $8 billion project that would produce more than double the amount of energy generated by Hoover Dam taps some of the most unique and deep salt caverns found in the world — just outside of Delta in Millard County. The salt domes for compressed air energy storage are the biggest structures of their kind west of the Mississippi and figure as central components of a four-company green-energy project.

Construction of one of the nation's largest wind farms is planned for 40 miles outside of Cheyenne, Wyoming, to ultimately deliver enough electricity to power 1.2 million homes in Southern California. A 525-mile direct-current transmission line would take 2,100 megawatts of electricity produced at the wind farm for storage in the salt caverns in Millard County built by Salt Lake City-based Magnum Energy.

Solar energy poised to blossom in Utah desert

First Wind, which operates a 165-turbine wind farm near Milford, is now moving into the solar business. On Wednesday the company announced it has reached critical agreements with Rocky Mountain Power to purchase 20 megawatts of power from seven projects First Wind will build in Iron and Beaver counties. They will deploy 73,000 300-watt panels expected to go online in summer 2015, producing enough power for 4,000 Utah homes.

Juwi Solar, a Boulder, Colo.-based subsidiary of the German firm Juwi AG, is developing a 50-megawatt solar farm on 350 acres of private ranchlands outside Holden. The company has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Rocky Mountain Power.

SunEdison has the most ambitious plans for Utah, with several projects in the works in southwestern Utah. The company has secured agreements to sell 33 megawatts and is negotiating contracts for another 55. It also is eyeing four large-scale projects across sites that could generate up to 260 megawatts — about two-thirds the capacity of Salt Lake City’s Gadsby generating station. SunEdison plans on investing $500 million in Utah by 2016, generating 700 construction jobs and establishing a centralized service center in Iron County that would have 10 to 15 permanent positions. Salt Lake Tribune

Energy Capital’s Solar Farm

A small forest of solar panels could soon spring up on the rolling hills east of the Intermountain Power Plant north of the Brush Highway. Energy Capital Group is completing all of the requirements to install a 300 Megawatt solar plant. It will cover an area one-half mile by 4.5 miles on land leased from the Utah School and Institutional Trust Land Administration (SITLA). The 1754-acre site will use single axis photovoltaic solar panels to capture sunlight converting it into a flow of electrons. With single axis tracking systems, the panels can turn around the center axis, for maximum production.

The $600 million solar farm will employ from 200 to 250 people during construction. Case said the jobs are such that it should allow a lot of local people to work on the construction phase. He said permanent operations and maintenance jobs will number about six-to-ten people. Millard County Chronicle

300-megawatt solar plant crosses regulatory threshold in Millard County

A conditional-use permit outlining operational requirements for what would be Utah's first utility-scale commercial solar field was issued to a Provo-based company. Energy Capital Group received a go-ahead endorsement by the Millard County Commission for its 300-megawatt solar project called ECG Utah Solar 1.

Millard County poised to get Utah's largest solar project

If the Provo-based Energy Capital Group can successfully negotiate power purchase agreements and get plugged in, it will deliver one of the country's largest utility-scale solar projects from Millard County — and the first for Utah. In May, the company secured a lease to 1,754 acres from the School Institutional and Trust Lands Administration for a field of single-axle tracking panels to follow the sun's course in the sky.

The $600 million project would ultimately create 200 construction jobs and generate enough energy to power 80,000 homes. It would hook into the Intermountain Power Plant at Delta and include a high-voltage, direct-current line that goes directly to California because of market conditions driven by state requirements.

The company has been working with Millard County to secure a conditional-use permit and is also going through the state application process for Utah Alternative Energy Development incentives. KSL

Tapping into Utah’s Brightest at the Milford Renewable Energy Fair

Innovators, experts and students alike will gather on May 1, 2013 for the fifth Annual Milford Renewable Energy Fair. The fair attracts people from all across Utah to learn more about renewable energy and the future of the industry in Utah. Hosted by the Southwest Utah Renewable Energy Center (SUTREC), the Milford Renewable Energy Fair will begin at 9:00 am at the Milford High School in Milford, Utah. Utah Policy

2nd Milford wind project online

First Wind, a U.S.-based wind energy company, announced Monday that the construction of the 102-megawatt Milford Wind Corridor Phase II — Milford II — project has been completed and commercial operations have begun. The project is located north of the 204 MW Milford I project. Together, the projects, sited in Millard and Beaver counties, are the two largest wind energy developments in Utah.

Under a power purchase agreement with Southern California Public Power Authority, power generated by Milford II is being supplied to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power as well as Glendale Water and Power in California. Deseret News

3rd phase of Milford wind project proposed

A pair of meetings hosted by the Bureau of Land Management are set for mid-month to solicit comments from the public on the planned expansion of the Milford Wind Corridor project.

Phase III proposes to build a wind energy facility 45 miles south of Delta that could include up to 300 wind turbine generators, in addition to an underground power collection system, a connector road system and an operation and maintenance facility.

FirstWind's Phase I, already completed, has 97 turbines generating 204 megawatts and Milford II, at its completion, will have 68 turbines to generate 102 megawatts. John Lamontange, spokesman for the Boston-based company, said so far 22 turbines are up as part of Phase II, with another dozen or so towers installed. "The second phase is moving along well," he said. "We hope to have it online," by late spring or early summer of this year.

The company has power purchase agreements in place with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Southern California Public Power Authority for the first and second phase. No agreements have been penned yet for the third phase, or possible later phases of the project.

The Milford Wind Corridor is Utah's largest wind energy project — and when the second phase is complete the corridor will generate a combined 306 megawatts, making it one of the largest wind energy projects in the West. Deseret News

Utah among six states to have solar energy zones

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday unveiled what he described as a "smart from the start" renewable energy plan that includes two dozen solar energy zones in six states, including Utah. Comments are being sought over the next 90 days on the draft solar environmental impact statement, which proposes two dozen zones suitable for large-scale solar development that would power as many as 1 million homes.

Under consideration in Utah are nearly 17,700 acres, including Iron County's Escalante Valley, Beaver County's Milford Flats South and west central Utah's Wah Wah Valley. The plan contemplates 677,400 acres of Bureau of Land Management property that also includes Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada and California with high solar potential and on public lands with the fewest environmental and resource conflicts.

To facilitate industry interest, Salazar said the Interior Department will fast-track the permitting process and the U.S. Department of Energy will make millions available in tax credits and loan guarantees. Deseret News

Utah's west desert wind project to add turbines

Boston-based First Wind says it has started work on a second wind farm after putting 97 turbines in operation in Utah's west desert. The first wind farm can power about 44,000 houses. First Wind is selling the electricity to Southern California Public Power Authority for use in Los Angeles, Burbank and Pasadena.

First Wind says the second wind farm will generate half the power of the first. It will have 68 turbines, smaller in size, and the company says it expects to win a contract shortly with an unidentified buyer. The second wind farm will be located just to the north of the first wind farm straddling Millard and Beaver counties. Deseret News

Ephraim votes for Idaho wind power contract

The Ephraim city council voted to approve a purchase of Idaho wind power at its regular meeting Wednesday. Ted Olson, newly elected chairperson of Intermountain Power Agency and board member of the Utah Associated Municipal Power System, had asked city leaders to formally approve Ephraim’s participation in a cooperative agreement to buy power from Idaho’s Horse Butte Wind Project. The sales contract will cost Ephraim an estimated $8,000 monthly until the bonds are paid off.

The Horse Butte Wind Project is located southeast of Idaho Falls, Idaho, on mountain ridges. The wind project, coupled with a federal grant, would cost about $75 per megawatt hour. While coal is less expensive than wind—costing about $45 to $55 per megawatt hour—the wind power credits can be sold under renewable energy credits. That would bring the actual cost to around $55 per megawatt hour, thus making it more competitively priced, city officials have noted. About 20 other cities are purchasing wind power from the Horse Butte Project, including Mt. Pleasant, Springville, Beaver, Santa Clara, Logan and Bountiful. The Sanpete Messenger

$1.1M grant to help streetlights in rural Utah towns go green

Some rural Utah towns are using state dollars to 'go green' as they make the switch to high-tech night lighting.
The Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems Smart Energy initiative Wednesday received a Utah State Energy Program Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant of $1.1 million.
The grant will enable 14 UAMPS member municipalities to retrofit a portion of their existing streetlights with new, energy-efficient LED lamps and fixtures.
Based in Salt Lake City, UAMPS is a nonprofit agency that provides wholesale electricity to 52 community-owned power systems throughout the West, including in Utah, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming.
The participating members include the cities of Eagle Mountain, Enterprise, Ephraim, Fillmore, Holden Town, Hurricane, Monroe, Morgan, Oak City, Parowan, Payson, Santa Clara and Springville, as well as Heber Light & Power.

The grants are awarded through a competitive application process. UAMPS was the first organization selected to receive this award through the program. The Deseret News

Utah wind project to add 68 turbines

A large wind project in Utah's west desert is getting bigger. Boston-based First Wind says it plans to add 68 turbines on state, federal and private lands near Milford. The company has been operating 97 of the giant turbines since November, producing enough power for about 44,000 houses.

Southern California Public Power Authority is buying the electricity. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced Monday that his department has approved the second phase of the wind project. First Wind says the 68 new turbines will be installed by year's end. Salt Lake Tribune

Magnum Gas Storage aims to store energy in air

Magnum Gas Storage plans to dig a series of underground caverns that it hopes to one day fill with compressed air, releasing it to generate electricity by turning a turbine and solving one of the most vexing problems facing the clean-energy industry — how to store power. A private-equity group is bankrolling the project to hollow out a series of energy-storage vaults from a massive salt deposit a mile underground. It promises to make a perfect repository for storing energy and, in effect, creating a giant subterranean battery. Initially, Magnum Energy LLC will store natural gas for Rocky Mountain producers, taking it from a nearby interstate pipeline, in an "energy hub" near Delta, Utah. It hopes to start dissolving the first cavern within a year. The Deseret News