Four New Large-Scale Solar Plants Added To Arizona’s APS Electricity Utility Provider Output
January 10, 2014 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis 
The photovoltaic panel array of the Foothills solar power plant owned and operated by Arizona Public Service (APS). Photo courtesy of APS.
Arizona Public Service, the state’s largest and longest-serving electricity utility, ended 2013 with four new large-scale solar power plants starting production in December. The facilities, located in western Arizona, have a combined generating capacity of 62 megawatts, enough to power about 15,500 APS customers.
Two of the plants – Foothills and Hyder – are owned by APS and are operating as part of the utility’s AZ Sun Program for large-scale solar facilities.
Alternatively, APS is acquiring electricity through long-term power purchase agreements from the two other plants – Badger and Gillespie – that are owned by two independent companies, PSEG Solar Source LLC, Newark N.J. and RE Gillespie 1 LLC, San Francisco, respectively.
Taking A Look At The Four Solar Plants
Foothills
The Foothills solar plant is in its second phase and is the largest project in the AZ Sun Program, with 35 megawatts total capacity. The initial phase of the 398-acre facility came online in the first quarter of 2013 near Yuma County.
Foothills uses more than150,000 photovoltaic panels to optimize energy production by following the suns path as they move on a single-axis tracking system, creating enough energy to power about 9,000 customers. Foothills is also the first solar plant on Arizona State Trust land.
APS has a 35-year lease on the land, at a cost of $10.9 million. The proceeds from the land sales and leases on the land are going to the beneficiaries of the State Land Trust, which are primarily public schools K-12.