johnnymk

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/us...9tNERKdXRMzDJA

Citing Need for Assessments, U.S. Freezes Solar Energy Projects

DENVER — Faced with a surge in the number of proposed solar power plants, the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies their environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years.

The Bureau of Land Management says an extensive environmental study is needed to determine how large solar plants might affect millions of acres it oversees in six Western states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

But the decision to freeze new solar proposals temporarily, reached late last month, has caused widespread concern in the alternative-energy industry, as fledgling solar companies must wait to see if they can realize their hopes of harnessing power from swaths of sun-baked public land, just as the demand for viable alternative energy is accelerating.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Holly Gordon, vice president for legislative and regulatory affairs for Ausra, a solar thermal energy company in Palo Alto, Calif. “The Bureau of Land Management land has some of the best solar resources in the world. This could completely stunt the growth of the industry.”

Much of the 119 million surface acres of federally administered land in the West is ideal for solar energy, particularly in Arizona, Nevada and Southern California, where sunlight drenches vast, flat desert tracts.

Galvanized by the national demand for clean energy development, solar companies have filed more than 130 proposals with the Bureau of Land Management since 2005. They center on the companies’ desires to lease public land to build solar plants and then sell the energy to utilities.

According to the bureau, the applications, which cover more than one million acres, are for projects that have the potential to power more than 20 million homes.

All involve two types of solar plants, concentrating and photovoltaic. Concentrating solar plants use mirrors to direct sunlight toward a synthetic fluid, which powers a steam turbine that produces electricity. Photovoltaic plants use solar panels to convert sunlight into electric energy.

Much progress has been made in the development of both types of solar technology in the last few years. Photovoltaic solar projects grew by 48 percent in 2007 compared with 2006. Eleven concentrating solar plants are operational in the United States, and 20 are in various stages of planning or permitting, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

The manager of the Bureau of Land Management’s environmental impact study, Linda Resseguie, said that many factors must be considered when deciding whether to allow solar projects on the scale being proposed, among them the impact of construction and transmission lines on native vegetation and wildlife. In California, for example, solar developers often hire environmental experts to assess the effects of construction on the desert tortoise and Mojave ground squirrel.

Water use can be a factor as well, especially in the parched areas where virtually all of the proposed plants would be built. Concentrating solar plants may require water to condense the steam used to power the turbine.

“Reclamation is another big issue,” Ms. Resseguie said. “These plants potentially have a 20- to 30-year life span. How to restore that land is a big question for us.”

Another benefit of the study will be a single set of environmental criteria to weigh future solar proposals, which will ultimately speed the application process, said the assistant Interior Department secretary for land and minerals management, C. Stephen Allred. The land agency’s manager of energy policy, Ray Brady, said the moratorium on new applications was necessary to “ensure that we are doing an adequate level of analysis of the impacts.”

In the meantime, bureau officials emphasized, they will continue processing the more than 130 applications received before May 29, measuring each one’s environmental impact.

While proponents of solar energy agree on the need for a sweeping environmental study, many believe that the freeze is unwarranted. Some, like Ms. Gordon, whose company has two pending proposals for solar plants on public land, say small solar energy businesses could suffer if they are forced to turn to more expensive private land for development.

The industry is already concerned over the fate of federal solar investment tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of the year unless Congress renews them. The moratorium, combined with an end to tax credits, would deal a double blow to an industry that, solar advocates say, has experienced significant growth without major environmental problems.

“The problem is that this is a very young industry, and the majority of us that are involved are young, struggling, hungry companies,” said Lee Wallach of Solel, a solar power company based in California that has filed numerous applications to build on public land and was considering filing more in the next two years. “This is a setback.”

At a public hearing in Golden, Colo., on Monday, one of a series by the Bureau of Land Management across the West, reaction to the moratorium was mixed.

Alex Daue, an outreach coordinator for the Wilderness Society, an environmental conservation group, praised the government for assessing the implications of large-scale solar development.

Others warned the bureau against becoming mired in its own bureaucratic processes on solar energy, while parts of the West are already humming with new oil and gas development.

Craig Cox, the executive director of the Interwest Energy Alliance, a renewable energy trade group, said he worried that the freeze would “throw a monkey wrench” into the solar energy industry at precisely the wrong time.

“I think it’s good to have a plan,” Mr. Cox said, “but I don’t think we need to stop development in its tracks.”

BigJon

I seriously don't get it...one way or another it's going to somehow impact the environment. Would you rather we try to keep our species alive by using "new energies" or just allow us to destroy the earth layer by layer looking for more oil and coal?

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InfiniteNothing

At least the title doesn't pretend not to be sensationalist

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I guess that would mean turning signatures back on. I haven't had them on for ~2 years.

zippyjuan

Why not use space already used for buildings by adding the solar panels onto roofs of existing buildings? Cities in California are doing that.

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cruelpupet

It may be more efficient to do large scale solar power by not installing the converter equip in each location (DC-->AC), and instead take the efficency loss from transmission distance.

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zippyjuan

At the same time, the Bureau of Land Management is trying to fast- track oil leases on government lands.

Maarchk

I bet if i wanted to build an oil rig in the same spot i'd have my permit tomorrow..

Shoot. ZJ beat me too it.

So how will the BLM decide when people want to drill through fishes in the ocean? man i hate our government.

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Airencracken

Seems more like Oil company dollars meddling here if you ask me.

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guiseppewv

Well, the BLM approved the usage of public lands for green power.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9769285

What I am confused about is this article on the BLM:

http://www.blm.gov/nhp/news/releases...1021_solar.htm

Daedalus

Solar is pretty exciting, but I don't know if the planet has the resources to create enough cells to make much of a dent in the equation. Current technology can't make them cheap enough to make economic sense, and mass production isn't enough of a solution. Our current milestone is $1/watt of power, which means a solar panel can pay for itself within a few years if fully utilized for 8 hours/day. On a grand scale, though, the US would have to spend about $120 trillion just to create 1% of our annual electricity consumption--and only if we could store what we need when the sun is down. That's about 8X our annual GDP! For 1% of our power. Not gonna happen.

We should not waste resources trying to flesh out a grid that mathematically cannot work. Put the money into the research, and build out the system only when it makes economic/resource sense.

Airencracken

Solar is extremely exciting. I don't know why people get all worked up about photovoltaics though. I think that Solar Thermal Energy is more practical. Its currently more efficient and pretty scalable.

zippyjuan

There is no single solution to oil. It will take many sources. Probably the most viable is actually nuclear energy. One problem with electric vehicles is producing enough batteries. They are having problems getting enough now just to meet the present demand for Priuses. We may be forced to start giving up using cars on most occasions.

Whatever we end up with, we need to be starting on now since it will take a long time to get them into production and widespread use. Cheap oil will probably not be coming back. Saudi Arabia is trying to expand their production and are developing a field they found in 1957. It will require them to pump 2 million barrels into the ground a day to extract an expected 1.2 million barrels of oil. Usually water is only pumped in after an oilfield is past its prime and they are trying to squeeze a bit more life out of it. If they are willing to do this on a new field this means that they do not have any other more easily extracted oil to go after. Not a good sign.

cruelpupet

Fortunately battery tech is getting better. Theres a company that has reworked Lead acid batteries, so they require much less lead, recharge quicker, weigh less, and hold more of a charge. Basically it should perform as well as lithiom ion but still staying more stable.

I also think electric/nuclear is the way to go, and hope we start building more nuke plants soon.

guiseppewv

I saw something on BBC world this weekend about a 1 GW solar facility coming on line in Osaka in 2010. That is a serious amount of power from solar. I saw the ad a few times throughout the weekend. Does anyone know about this project? It is huge for a solar project. I have not been able to find any info on the web to confirm this project.

Airencracken

Solar is pretty much the solution. If you want to get technical about it: Wind, Biofuels, and Fossil fuels are all solar power removed by a couple degrees.

guiseppewv

Here is a good article on a huge solar energy project happening on the West coast: LINKIFIED