Abengoa to build 280 MW solar power plant in Arizona

Spain's Abengoa Solar announced today that it plans to build a 280 megawatt plant in Arizona, signing a deal to sell the electricity to Arizona Public Service.

Abengoa Solar, a unit of engineering and process management company Abengoa, said the concentrating solar power facility is scheduled to go into operation by 2011 near Gila Bend, Ariz.

The company did not disclose the cost of the plant but said it expected to take in total revenue of around $4 billion under its deal to sell the electricity Arizona Public Service over the next 30 years.

But Abengoa pointed out that, "The construction of this solar plant and others under contract in the U.S. are subject to a long-term extension of the solar investment tax credit by the U.S. Congress."

The tax credits were dropped from an energy bill passed in December (see U.S. solar & wind incentives on the way?), and a recent attempt to include them in an economic stimulus bill also failed.

In November, Abengoa Solar CEO Santiago Seage said the company would go and invest in other countries if the tax credits fell through in the U.S. (see Solar CEOs see light in U.S. energy bill).

Abengoa said the planned Arizona facility, called the Solana Generating Station, would cover 1,900 acres and is expected to generate enough electricity to power 70,000 homes.

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