Renewable Energy Sources Powering a Gilbert, AZ Community

Introduction

The Willows community is located in the city of Gilbert, Arizona. It is an HOA community of single-family homes with a number of amenities included. As with any community, it has power usage needs that must be carefully considered. Before the community was built, planners addressed how to supply power to the area and how much power residents might consume. Once the community was constructed and the homes were sold, power demand in Gilbert — a growing city with a strong population base — increased accordingly.

The power needs of any community are important because residents want assurance that they have enough electricity to power their homes (Aitken, 2010). However, there is more to the issue than simply meeting resident demand. Environmental and broader energy-usage considerations must also be addressed carefully. Without attending to all of the issues that come into play where power sources are concerned, the surrounding environment can be badly damaged (Aitken, 2010).

Most people do not think much about where their power comes from. They simply expect their lights to turn on and their heating and air conditioning systems to work as expected. Of course, the infrastructure required to supply all of those things is complex, and it must function as an integrated system to serve residents reliably. Willows has 586 homes. While that may not sound like a large number, every one of those homes has at least one occupant, and all of them consume electricity. As a family-friendly community, Willows attracts many parents and children, which increases household power consumption further.

Power Types: Solar, Hydroelectric, and Wind

Solar energy, hydroelectricity, and wind power are the three types of power sources most commonly used for Willows and the Gilbert area in general (Renewable, 2014). One of the main reasons solar energy is so popular there is the abundant heat and sunshine that Arizona receives. It is rarely cold in Gilbert, and days with rain or cloud cover can easily be counted. There are very few occasions when solar energy would not be a practical choice. Even after a rare stretch of several cloudy days in a row, there is still substantial solar energy stored. Some homes have their own solar panels, and SRP — the local power company — receives solar power from the Copper Crossing Solar Ranch located in Florence, Arizona (Renewable, 2014). Glendale also has a solar power generating system used by SRP, and there are two systems right in Gilbert at the Rogers Substation (Renewable, 2014). With so many solar options available, it is no wonder that solar power is one of the most popular ways to power homes and businesses in the region.

Hydroelectricity — power generated from water — is another excellent way for Willows and the city of Gilbert to receive power for homes and businesses. While this may seem surprising given the desert environment, there are lakes, streams, and rivers that can be used to generate power, along with underground springs and other water sources. SRP operates two dams: one on the Salt River and another on the Verde River (Renewable, 2014). When these two river systems are combined, a total of seven different dams are in use, creating a tremendous amount of power for SRP customers. Coupled with low-energy approaches that harness the water's natural flow and changes in elevation, hydroelectric power provides SRP with an excellent and reliable energy source.

Wind power is another popular way to deliver electricity to homes and businesses. The wind farm located near Heber, Arizona was purchased by SRP in 2009, giving the utility more options for powering homes (Renewable, 2014). Currently, 20,000 homes are powered by energy from that wind farm (Renewable, 2014). That is an impressive figure, particularly because the energy source is completely sustainable and will not be depleted. The exhaustibility of an energy source is a critical problem with many conventional power options — once the resource is gone, it is simply gone. With solar, hydroelectric, and wind power, this will never be the case (Makower, Pernick, & Wilder, 2009). Harvesting these forms of energy causes no resource depletion whatsoever, since none of the natural resources involved fail to replenish. These are safe and effective ways to deliver energy to SRP's customers in Willows and throughout Gilbert and the surrounding region. However, that energy is not free, because of the equipment required to harness and transport it (Makower, Pernick, & Wilder, 2009), which can raise costs to customers.

With the right types of power in use for Willows, the community will be able to enjoy sufficient electricity to meet its needs for a long time to come. That allows for expansion if necessary and accommodates changing power requirements as families move in and out of the area. Because conditions within a community are always shifting, companies that provide power must be ready to grow and adapt. By doing so, SRP demonstrates that it understands its customers' power needs and is prepared to meet them accordingly, allowing residents of Willows to rely on SRP with confidence.

Impact on the Environment

The three types of energy used by Willows — wind, water, and solar power — do not have a negative impact on the surrounding environment. They are all sustainable, meaning they will not be depleted no matter how much is consumed. There will always be sun and wind, and the water itself is not consumed in the process; it is the energy generated by moving water that powers homes. While water levels can change, the energy that can be harnessed from rivers will remain available. In this sense, SRP is not consuming anything that cannot be replenished. The power sources SRP uses have been popular throughout the period in which they have been employed, and they have served the area since before Willows was built, given that the Arizona desert is particularly well suited to these forms of energy. When communities use renewable power sources that are well matched to their geography, they can save money and provide higher levels of service — and more reliable power — to the people they serve (Lovins, 2011).

One could argue that any change to how resources are distributed, or any construction in the desert, affects the environment to some degree (Makower, Pernick, & Wilder, 2009). After all, development does alter the environment in some ways, requiring plants and animals to adjust. However, harnessing wind, solar, and hydroelectric power does not take valuable resources away from the creatures that depend on them. The community also produces no nuclear waste, so there is no need to devise safe disposal strategies for that material. The focus remains squarely on how power is produced and whether it reliably reaches those who need it. Using these types of resources over time has been very beneficial to the community, allowing it to ensure that all residents have what they need while avoiding the risk of exhausting a resource vital to daily life.

Without reliable power, Willows would be a much different place to live. While no energy approach is perfect, the desert provides abundant wind and sunshine, and there is ample water from the Salt and Verde rivers. As a result, the use of wind, water, and sunlight for power has had little to no negative impact on the area, and considerable positive impact. Air and water quality have not been compromised, as they might have been under other power generation approaches available to the community.

Anytime a dam is built or a wind farm is constructed, some environmental impacts are inevitable (Lovins, 2011). For example, a dam may alter the habitat for fish and other aquatic life, and may hinder certain species from migrating or reproducing as freely as before. That is a real concern, but a relatively modest one when compared to energy sources that require near-complete destruction of natural environments in order to operate (Lovins, 2011; Makower, Pernick, & Wilder, 2009). Furthermore, the power sources used by Willows cannot be exhausted through consumption, so there is no risk of the community running out of power. Running out of sunshine or wind is not possible, and the depletion of major rivers in the region would be highly unlikely. If SRP ever did need to move away from hydroelectric power, the community could transition to solar and wind alone by building additional wind farms or expanding solar panel installations and substations. Alternative options could also be considered. There are always choices to be made when it comes to how to power a community, but not every choice would be a sound one (Lovins, 2011).

Conclusion

Using geothermal energy as an alternative power source is very realistic, but only as a future prospect. Right now the costs are simply too high to make it work at scale. The rates that SRP charges for electricity to homes and businesses would have to increase too substantially to accommodate geothermal options at this time, and there would not be enough power generated to serve everyone who needs it. When broader adoption does become feasible, however, the people of Willows will likely support the change. They are already accustomed to other forms of power drawn from renewable and sustainable resources, so geothermal energy would not represent a radical departure from what they already know.

Because the transition would not be a dramatic one — and would not strongly impact their power bills — residents would have little logical reason to oppose it. Many may not even notice the change, as long as their power remains as reliable as it has always been. Over time, geothermal options for Willows and similar communities will become less cost prohibitive. This type of power will also be relatively gentle on the environment, since it does not destroy habitats where animals and plants live. The drilling required to place the pipes will cause some disturbance, but conditions in the area would return to normal relatively quickly, preserving the environment from lasting damage or significant alteration.

References

Aitken, D. W. (2010). Transitioning to a renewable energy future. International Solar Energy Society.

Lovins, A. (2011). Reinventing fire: Bold business solutions for the new energy era. Chelsea Green Publishing.

Makower, J., Pernick, R., & Wilder, C. (2009). Clean energy trends. Clean Edge.

Renewable energy. (2014). SRP. Retrieved from