SIERRA VISTA — In an effort to deal with rising energy costs, the Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative announced on Friday it has begun considering the possibility of building its own gas turbine power plant.

Jack Blair, chief member services officer for Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative, made the announcement during the annual SSVEC Community Leaders Luncheon.

The possibility of looking into constructing a plant began about a year ago, Blair said, “but within the last six months, with the costs going through the roof, is when that went from the back burner to the front burner.”

He stressed that the idea was still in early stages of discussion, but noted the numerous advantages it would allow.

“We think that it’s a solution that we need to really, really explore,” Blair said, “but you can also imagine that we’re not going to build one if it’s not going to pay its costs out.”

SSVEC does not currently create any energy itself, but purchases it from entities such as the Arizona Electric Power Cooperative.

If the plan goes through, a small energy plant, called a peaker plant, would be used to produce more energy during peak usage times, such as hot summer months.

“We’re not talking about something that runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Literally, there’s someone sitting there going, we need some extra power,” he said, making a button-pushing motion.

The rising costs of fuel, spurred by the increased resource consumption of nations such as China and India, escalated the need to find ways to cut costs, leading to further study of the plant, he said.

“The initial numbers that we looked at were very encouraging, so as a result, we’re really putting this under the microscope,” Blair said. “We’ve gone out and seen how other people do it.”

Blair spoke to a gathering of local business and community leaders about the current energy situation and the problems and possible solutions that may lie in the future.

“In today’s world we are truly a global economy where the market demands in one part of the world affects another,” he told the crowd of 30 to 40 people.

Blair cited the construction of China’s Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in the world, as responsible for increasing costs of finished steel 30 to 40 percent.

“From 2004 to 2007, non-renewable generation, transmission and distribution equipment rose 25 to 35 percent in price,” he said.

Pat Call, Cochise County supervisor, who was at the luncheon, described the presentation as an “eye-opener.”

If the facts presented were accurate, Call said, he worries that current state and federal environmental policies will impact energy production in the future.

“People in this country are concerned about the environment, while the fastest-growing nations in the would, China and India, are making absolutely no effort to worry about the environment, and are using a cheap fuel source — coal,” he said.

The combination of massive energy production and resource consumption by those countries threatens to disrupt the United States economy, he said.

“The balance of the economic equation keeps getting more and more out of balance.” he said.

Efforts to control pollution are not bad ideas, Call said, but may be detrimental to economic growth.

“It’s noble,” Call said. “We need to look after the environment, but we’re playing by rules that no one else is playing by, and it’s beginning to cost us a great deal of money.”

 

Source: Sierra Vista Harold