Huge solar plant planned for Gila Bend

With more than 300 days of sunshine each year, Arizona is a prime location for a huge solar energy plant.

The town of Gila Bend west of Phoenix is about to become the home of one of the world's largest solar energy plants when it opens in 2011, Arizona Public Service Co. said Wednesday.

First, the plant has to pass upcoming regulatory and tax hurdles. Once that's completed, the plant will be built and operated by a Spanish company, APS said.

The Phoenix-based utility will buy all the electricity from the plant to supply its 1.1 million customers.

Officials said they plan to tap the state's abundant sunshine because it is becoming more likely that the fear of global climate-changes will increase the costs of making electricity the old-fashioned way, with coal.

"This is a turning point for APS and the future of the state of Arizona as we move to become the solar capital of the world," APS President Don Brandt said. Brandt estimates the Solana plant will cost more than $1 billion and cover 3 square miles. "It will be the dawn of the Solar Age in Arizona," Brandt added.

Solar-thermal plants work using mirrors to focus sunlight by heating up liquids. They make steam that spins turbines, just like coal or other power plants but without the pollution.