Alternative energy industry in Mohave County
Overview
With 13.461 square miles total territory and 200.186 people population, Mohave County is the second-largest county in Arizona and the fifth largest in the country. With large plots of available land for energy projects and monetary grants from the US Department of Energy, Mohave County is one of the leaders in alternative energy development. From natural gas to biomass and from wind to solar, the energy in Mohave County is rising and thriving.
In June of 1976, Mohave County’s Board of Supervisors decided to appoint a Solar Energy Commission. This Commission made recommendations to the county and provided information about searching alternative energy sources. Mohave Community College is implementing an energy-technology training program to train energy technicians, particularly in solar and wind systems.
Solar Energy Projects
Today there are five Solar energy projects (Black Mountain Solar (operating), Hualapai Valley Solar Project (under development), Kingman Project (under development), La Senita Elementary School (operating), Western Wind Energy Project (operating) with total proposed or under development 540 MW and five Wind energy projects (Dolan Springs (testing), Five Star 19testing), Five Star 2 (testing), Mohave County Wind Farm (under development), Western Wind Energy Project (operating) with total proposed or under development up to 500 MW.
The Black Mountain, Solar Power Project, consists of 42,000 PV panels and is Duke Energy Renewables' 13th wholly-owned commercial solar project. In addition to Black Mountain, Duke Energy Renewables has four other commercial solar projects in Arizona: Hualapai Valley Solar (HVS) is a 340 MW concentrating solar power (CSP) plant located 100 miles of Las Vegas is one of the world's largest solar power plant. The plant is owned and operated by Mohave Sun Power. It's being developed on more than 4,000 acres of private land. HVS will generate clean energy for nearly 250,000 homes and provide an annual impact of over $20 million on the regional economy once operational. The project provides a solid foundation for rebuilding a healthy economy.
The Kingman wind and solar project located in Kingman is owned by Western Wind Energy. The 10,5 MW combined wind/solar energy farm is the first purpose-built wind and solar project in North America.
The first sources of solar power for the Bright Arizona Community Solar Program were the 1.22 megawatt (MW) single-axis tracking physical photovoltaic (PV) array at La Senita Elementary School and the 5 MW solar array at Kingman. It is the most extensive single PV system on school property in the state of Arizona. La Senita has become a testament to Kingman's commitment to renewable energy and the success of partnerships between solar providers, utilities and schools.
Mohave County has taken an aggressive approach to energy efficiency in county houses through the Capital Improvement Energy Retrofit Program (CIERP). Improvements include the installation of energy-efficient electric lighting, solar tube lights, and new HVAC and cooling systems, as well as amenities to promote bicycle commuting.
Pegasus Group Holdings, a technology infrastructure corporation that develops renewable energy projects in June 2019, announced that it had selected Mohave County for the development of its new $3 billion, 340 Megawatt solar-powered data center. As Mohave County Supervisor Jean Bishop stated, it would be the largest solar-powered data center in the world.
Mohave County Wind Farm
The wind is one of the unlimited sources of energy on earth the most prominent Mohave County Wind Farm project is going to use for producing up to 500 MW. According to the Plan of development, it comprises of up to 225 turbine generators on federally managed lands in Mohave County. Up to 235 wind turbine generators are proposed for the first phase. Transmission lines are planned to connect to existing Western Area Power Administration lines. Subsequent phases are proposed for up to 100 wind turbine generators.