The Teanaway Solar Power Plant
The Teanaway Solar Reserve in Washington state is the largest proposed solar power plant for the region. It aims to install 400,000 solar panels that are calculated to produce 75 MW of electricity, enough for 40,000 homes. In addition to this the project is looking to integrate a solar panel assembly factory in the nearby town of Cle Elum to cut the costs of buying solar units. Both the park and the assembly factory are estimated to provide several hundred jobs and a good boost to the local community.The solar arrays are to be placed in a 400 acre area of previously logged Ponderosa pine forest near the town of Teanaway. The project proposal indicates that there will be bands of native vegetation running throughout the site and that the panels will be mounted low to the ground. This means that the array will be neither an eyesore nor harmful to the environment. The area selected for the project has an average of 300 days of sunlight per year, which is sufficient for the project to be commercially viable. The project will sell its electricity directly to major utility companies. This project is in response to the Washington State’s Renewable Electricity Standard. This legislation states that the state’s largest utilities must derive at least 15% of their electricity with renewable energy by 2020. While this is unrelated to the solar incentives offered by the State, it is another good step forward for Washington towards clean energy. For more information about this project, visit the Teanaway Solar Reserve site.
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