Solar panels could destroy U.S. utilities, according to U.S. utilities

[green for victory]

97. Take a look at Palo Verde Nuclear plant in Arizona

and the land it sits on.



full resolution fills your screen

The Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power plant located in Tonopah, Arizona,[1] about 45 miles (80 km) west of central Phoenix. It is the largest nuclear generation facility in the United States, averaging over 3.3 gigawatts (GW) of electrical power production in 2008[1] to serve approximately 4 million people. Arizona Public Service (APS) owns 29.1% of the station and operates the facility. Other owners include Salt River Project (17.5%), El Paso Electric Co. (15.8%), Southern California Edison (15.8%), PNM Resources (10.2%), Southern California Public Power Authority (5.9%), and the Los Angeles Dept. of Water & Power (5.7%).[2]

Located in the Arizona desert, Palo Verde is the only nuclear generating facility in the world that is not situated adjacent to a large body of above-ground water. The facility evaporates water from the treated sewage of several nearby municipalities to meet its cooling needs.

The facility is on 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of land and consists of three Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactors, each with an original capacity of 1.27 gigawatts electrical, current (2007) maximum capacity of 1.24 gigawatts electrical,[3] and typical operating capacity 70%–95% of this. The plant is a major source of power for Phoenix and Southern California, capable of serving about 4 million people. The plant provides about 35% of the electricity generated in Arizona each year. The plant was fully operational by 1988, taking twelve years to build and costing $5.9 billion,[4] eventually employing 2,386 people.[5] The plant employs 2,055 full-time on-site workers.

The Nuclear plants will take land too. The difference is the Solar plants won't contaminate the soil for 30,000 years.