IRON COUNTY — Eight years of hard work and vision came to fruition Thursday upon the completion and commissioning of Utah’s first, fully-functional, utility-sized solar power plant Utah Red Hills Renewable Park located in Parowan.
Investors, developers and government officials from across the globe and Utah gathered to celebrate the completion of the project with food, music and tours of the facility — despite threats of storm clouds on the horizon.
“This is a pioneering project,” Scatec Solar North America Luigi Resta said. “We did open up a market and it should have positive benefits for many of the counties and the communities with both job creation, new tax benefits and ultimately, hopefully, at low avoided cost prices of (energy).”
As a result of this project, Resta said, there are a multitude of new solar energy projects currently under development in Southern Utah that will add an additional 500 to 800 megawatts through a variety of developers, creating additional employment for trained workers in the field.
When beginning to develop Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Resta said, one important goal was to create jobs in the locality of the development, rather than bring in outside workers to build the project. A task that Swinerton Renewable Energy Vice President George Hershman followed through on with integrity, Resta said.
“They have remained committed to what I asked them to do two years ago,” he said. “Which was to hire locally to build the project — which they have done to the utmost quality.”
At any given time during the construction of the 632-acre solar field in Parowan, an average of 200 workers were employed by Swinerton Renewable Energy, Resta said, and 91 percent of those employees were from Iron County and the surrounding Southern Utah area.
“It is true that these are short-term construction jobs,” Hershman said. “But with consolidation of solar in areas like this, that trained workforce, a number of those people that were trained and working on this plant are building other plants right within the area.”
Continuing development of solar projects helps create long-term work for Swinerton Renewable Energy workers who now have skills and knowledge to apply in the field no matter who is developing the new projects, he said.
The 340,784 solar panels are attached to racks that are supported by 53,923 piles that are 10-feet deep in the ground, Hershman said. Each rack is connected to a tracking system allowing the panels to follow the sun’s movement in the sky, ensuring the most possible energy can be absorbed.
Once energy is collected, Resta said, it is transferred through 80 inverters that collect the energy stored in the panels and delivered to the transformers that help to distribute clean energy to the public.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the new plant will reduce carbon emissions by 145 tons annually, Resta said, making solar renewable energy sourced from the new plant, a clean resource for power in the communities serviced by it.
The Utah Red Hills Renewable Park project is an exciting new venture for the state, Governor’s Office of Energy Development Renewable Energy Development Coordinator Blake H. Thomas said.
“This is a very exciting project,” Thomas said. “To be the first utility-scale solar project in the state – which required cooperation with local stakeholders, with international partners and with the utilities.”
It is the governor’s position that “an all-of-the-above” energy policy is the most conducive to forwarding the progression of a sustainable future in energy production in the future, he said.
“So, there’s an integration of our resources that historically have provided affordable and reliable energy,” Thomas said. “And we are now seeing today the new energy sources and I think it’s a combination of the both of those that will bring the most benefit to Utahns and Utah ratepayers.”
The project has been a blessing to the Parowan community and will continue to bless the Iron County community as a whole for years to come through tax benefits that will fund a variety of future endeavors, Iron County Commissioner Alma Adams said.
“What a marvelous thing that we have such a great solar generation potential here, and so the companies have come,” he said. “I must say that we are extremely proud and pleased to have this right here in Iron County and in the valley of the ‘Little Salt Lake.’”
See photo gallery below, click on image to enlarge then use left-right arrows to cycle through gallery
Solar fields, Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Developers discuss the final completion of an 8-year endeavor in solar fields at the Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Solar fields, Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Solar fields, Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Solar fields, Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Left to right: Swinerton Renewable Energy Vice President George Hershman, Scatec Solar ASA EVP Power Production and Asset Management Torstein Bernsten, Scatec Solar North America Luigi Resta and Array Technologies President Thomas Conroy show off the solar fields at the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Guests sign in to commemorate the commissioning of the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Title administrator Todd Sherman took a moment to sign a solar panel commemorating the commissioning of the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Participants of the project take a moment to sign a solar panel commemorating the commissioning of the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Officials gather to celebrate the commissioning of the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Officials gather to celebrate the commissioning of the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Officials gather to celebrate the commissioning of the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Scatec Solar North America Community Liaison takes a moment to address the crowd at the commissioning for the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Iron County Commissioner Alma Adams takes a moment to address the crowd at the commissioning for the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Lines were long for the Sonny Boys barbecue lunch at the commissioning of the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Lunch lines were long for the Sonny Boys barbecue lunch at the commissioning of the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Lunch lines were long for the Sonny Boys barbecue lunch at the commissioning of the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Officials gather to celebrate the commissioning of the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Officials gather to celebrate the commissioning of the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Pine Mountain Bluegrass Band entertains the crowd at the commissioning for the Utah Red Hills Renewable Park in Parowan, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo by Carin Miller, St. George News
Officials gather to celebrate the commissioning of the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Officials gather to celebrate the commissioning of the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Safety first - hard hats and orange vests were required for all of those wishing to tour the facility, Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Flags fly at half mast in honor of those who died in the San Bernadino shootings that took place Dec. 2, Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
The sign will point the way, Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Solar fields, Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Solar fields, Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Solar fields, Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Solar fields, Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Solar fields, Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Officials gather to celebrate the commissioning of the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Officials gather to celebrate the commissioning of the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Officials gather to celebrate the commissioning of the new Utah Red Hills Renewable Park, Parowan, Utah, Dec. 10, 2015 | Photo taken by Carin Miller, St. George News
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born and raised in South Jersey, Carin Miller moved to Cedar City 20 years ago or so and found her home. A 2012 graduate of Southern Utah University, she earned her bachelor's degree in communication with a minor in fine art photography – after dropping out of high school at the age of 16.
Carin proved that with a little determination and hard work anything was possible.
Her love of history and family has compelled her to dig up “Legacies Lost to Time” and share them with the world when she is not busy with either work or her four children.
Having worked for the Iron County Today, Alive Utah South and KCSG Television before landing with St. George News, Carin has covered a wide range of issues, events and happenings throughout the Southern Utah region. https://www.facebook.com/carinmillernews
It would have been nice if Ms. Miller had mentioned the rated Kw power of this array. It would appear it is 340,768 X 300W (est. per panel) = 102,235,200 Watts. A 100Kw daytime power station. Hmmmm.
Chinese panels, most likely.
And the price premium customers must pay for its’ output?
(Also, how many window washers will be employed there full time?)
There is no mention of rated output of this plant (full sun, zero degrees of incidence) in either article, only breathless “yearly output totals”, “tons of coal and CO2 avoided”, etc.
Can we have a science major review these reworded press releases to be sure to include the most basic of information, at least?
(If I had the panel manufacturers P/N, I could compute it for you.)
Not a bad suggestion, wilbur – although in fairness to our reporters, these are not reworded press releases, they did go to the site and report what information was made available to them.
I do like the idea of a science major weighing in on this kind of story as much as I like a complaint with a suggestion attached. It’s a good one, thank you! 😀
JK
EIC
Shut up Wibur LOL ! get out from the front of your computer and get a life. window washers make some good money. they don’t sit in front of their computers and cry all day like you do. Btw tell Mr Ed I said hello
It would have been nice if Ms. Miller had mentioned the rated Kw power of this array. It would appear it is 340,768 X 300W (est. per panel) = 102,235,200 Watts. A 100Kw daytime power station. Hmmmm.
Chinese panels, most likely.
And the price premium customers must pay for its’ output?
(Also, how many window washers will be employed there full time?)
Wilbur, I expect you’ll find the kind of detail you’re suggesting in our earlier report on the Scatec Solar plant in Parowan, here:
http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2015/05/06/ric-solar-power-farm-in-parowan-on-schedule-for-december-opening/#.VmxQyBorJdA
I hope that helps and appreciate your interest. 🙂
ST. GEORGE NEWS | CEDAR CITY NEWS
Joyce Kuzmanic
Editor in Chief
There is no mention of rated output of this plant (full sun, zero degrees of incidence) in either article, only breathless “yearly output totals”, “tons of coal and CO2 avoided”, etc.
Can we have a science major review these reworded press releases to be sure to include the most basic of information, at least?
(If I had the panel manufacturers P/N, I could compute it for you.)
Not a bad suggestion, wilbur – although in fairness to our reporters, these are not reworded press releases, they did go to the site and report what information was made available to them.
I do like the idea of a science major weighing in on this kind of story as much as I like a complaint with a suggestion attached. It’s a good one, thank you! 😀
JK
EIC
Shut up Wibur LOL ! get out from the front of your computer and get a life. window washers make some good money. they don’t sit in front of their computers and cry all day like you do. Btw tell Mr Ed I said hello
You are a nasty, nasty man, at the very least, and as educated as I think you are, at best.
Shut up Wilbur. You’re a nasty.nasty man. at the very least and as uneducated as I know you are. did you break out your crying towel today ?