Community Partnership Report - Power for Our Lives
- TEP Solar Power Systems
- SunShare
- GreenWatts
- Renewable Energy
- Methane Gas Generation
- Clean-Burning Generation
Environmental stewardship is an important part of our operations as we serve customers' growing energy needs. We’re expanding our world-renowned solar energy program, increasing our use of other renewable energy resources and cultivating creative new ways to reduce emissions from the generation of electric power.
We're working to comply with Arizona’s ambitious Renewable Energy Standard (RES), which calls for TEP to increase the use of renewable energy each year until such resources account for 15 percent of our power in 2025. To meet that standard, we’ll rely on both large, utility-grade installations and smaller, “distributed” resources like photovoltaic systems and solar water heaters for residential customers and solar day-lighting or geothermal heating systems for businesses.
Through programs like SunShare and GreenWatts, TEP is actively educating our community about renewable energy and offering options to customers who want to help the environment.
TEP Solar Power Systems
Arizona’s energy future is looking up – at the sun. Our sunny climate provides us with an abundant source of renewable energy, placing the state and TEP in an important position to develop new solar technologies.
TEP is recognized worldwide as a leader in solar energy development. Our 4.6- megawatt (MW) Springerville Generation Station Solar System is one of Arizona’s most productive solar photovoltaic arrays. It generates enough energy to meet the annual electrical needs of more than 700 homes in TEP’s service area.
Visitors from around the world have come to Springerville, an eastern Arizona community with just 5,000 residents, to see how the operation works. In the system's first six years of operations, only 150 of 34,000 solar modules required replacement – a rate far lower than other large-scale systems. Annual maintenance costs for the system are just $10,000, most of which pays for trimming the grass.
The array will be the focus of a new, $100,000 study funded through the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Solar America Initiative, which encourages development of solar energy. The array’s output, which is measured every 10 seconds, will be analyzed to determine how passing clouds can affect energy output.
SunShare
More than 560 residential customers have taken advantage of our SunShare program, which reduces the cost of installing solar electric systems at local homes or businesses. The program provides subsidies of up to $3,000 per kilowatt (kW) of solar generating capacity for residential customers and up to $2,500 per kW for businesses.
In 2008, our SunShare customers' solar photovoltaic systems generated more than 2.3 million kilowatt hours (kWh). That's enough energy to meet the annual electric needs of more than 220 homes in TEP’s service area.
GreenWatts
Our GreenWatts program provides an easy way for environmentally conscious customers to help expand the use of solar energy in local schools, parks and other public places.
Customers can adopt GreenWatts – blocks of renewable energy resources – by adding a small premium to their monthly bills. All proceeds are used to pay for installation of the systems. With more than $615,000 in contributions over the life of the program, TEP has installed photovoltaic systems that serve more than 20 schools and non-profit organizations throughout the TEP service area. Participation in GreenWatts increased by about 10 percent in 2008, generating $113,936 in annual revenue.
Recently installed GreenWatts systems can be seen at the La Cima Middle School, The Nature Conservancy, and the Dunbar African-American Museum & Cultural Center. Each display helps educate visitors about the benefits of solar power. For photos and slideshows of installed systems, click here.
Renewable Energy
Under Arizona's ambitious Renewable Energy Standard, TEP is offering financial incentives to customers who install new and developing technology. Rebates are now available to customers who install solar water heaters, wind turbines and other alternative energy resources in their homes and businesses.
TEP's Solar Hot Water incentive for example, offers up to $1,750 to customers who install solar-powered water heaters in their home. The energy savings can pay back the initial investment cost of these systems in as few as five years. In 2008, customers received incentive payments for installation of more than 170 solar hot water systems.
To learn more about TEP's renewable energy programs, click here.
Methane Gas Generation
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Methane gas that otherwise would be burned off by landfill operators is instead being used to produce electricity.
The gas, which is produced naturally through biological decay, is piped more than three miles from the City of Tucson’s Los Reales Landfill to TEP’s H. Wilson Sundt Generating Station, where it helps fire a boiler that supplies power to our customers. The use of methane gas allows TEP to avoid burning about 12,000 tons of coal per year, sparing the annual production of nearly 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide. TEP generated more than 25.8 million kWh from methane gas, producing enough energy to power more than 2,400 homes in 2008. |
 This compressor pumps gas more than 3 miles to the H. Wilson Sundt Generating Station. |
Clean Burning Generation
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TEP is committed to the safe, responsible operation of the traditional coal and gas-fired power plants that generate the majority of power we deliver to customers. We are upgrading the emissions controls of our existing generating fleet while emphasizing environmental performance as we develop new generating resources.
The new natural gas-fired Luna Generating Station, which began operations in April 2006, was built with environmental efficiency in mind. The combined cycle facility near Deming, New Mexico, is equipped with state-of-the-art emissions control equipment, including technology that reduces the output of nitrogen oxides. The plant also relies on recycled wastewater to reduce its use of fresh water. TEP shares ownership of the 570-MW plant and receives 190 MW of its output. We integrated environmental improvements into the ongoing expansion of TEP’s coal-fired Springerville Generating Station. As part of the construction of two new 400-MW units, approximately $60 million was spent on emission control upgrades for the plant’s two existing 380-MW units. Thanks to these improvements – including upgraded sulfur dioxide scrubber systems and improved low-nitrogen oxide burners – regulated emissions from all four units will be less than the levels previously produced by the two pre-existing generators. We’ll also help upgrade emission controls at PNM’s San Juan Generating Station in Farmington, New Mexico, where TEP owns a 50-percent stake in two coal-fired units. The new technologies will provide mercury controls while significantly reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulates. |
 An employee performs maintenance at the gas-fired Luna Generating Station in Deming, New Mexico. |
