Following up on last week’s reports of a “solar surge” in the Southwest, this week Arizona’s Solana solar plant went online. The system, which is currently the nation’s largest, spans three square miles of desert and uses a solar thermal system of curved mirrors to generate electricity. Arizona Public Service (APS) has a 30-year purchase agreement with the facility, which also includes energy storage capacity. 

"The benefit of this facility with the energy storage is this facility can keep operating at full power levels through our peak periods even on into the nighttime hours," said Brad Albert, APS general manager of resource management.