The first forays into green energy cultivation typically happened on a smaller scale, adhering to a residential or small-community model, but nowadays the companies investing in these new technologies are increasing the size and centrality of their efforts.

Reading the New York Times got me excited because of the prospect of wind and solar farms becoming more centralized, similar to a traditional utility. In other words, the “companies that are building or dreaming up large projects argue that there are economies of scale to be gained,” and therefore, want a greater piece of that action. The way I see it, this will only benefit communities in the long run, because once the infrastructure is in place, improvement in the technology will be easier to implement.

The Times points to a solar array in Arizona constructed by Arizona Public Service as an example of this trend. The scale of the project is truly massive, and takes up a large chunk of the Arizona desert.

“There are six rows of mirrors, each nearly a quarter-mile long, totaling nearly 100,000 square feet. The project produces one megawatt of power — enough to run a hospital or a large shopping center — but the company that installed it, now called Acciona Solar Power (formerly Solargenix), expects to open a 350-acre plant in Boulder City, Nev., soon, producing 64 megawatts with similar technology. And Arizona Public Service is one of about a half-dozen utilities that is considering a joint project to build a 250-megawatt plant based on the same technology.”

[ image via skyseeker ]