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Registered: 12-2008
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UTILITY SCALE SOLAR


Utility scale solar got a big boost this week as Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced a new plan to designate 24 tracts of public land administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as study areas for development of solar power plants.
The effort is in support of President Obama's target to generate 10% of U.S. electricity from renewable sources by 2010, and 25% 2025. The nation currently generates more than 1000 megawatts (MW) from photovoltaics, and 600 MW from thermal concentrated solar power (CSP) systems.

The BLM plans to spend $22 million evaluating about 670,000 acres, or more than 1,000 square miles of land, in Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah in search of sites with at least three square miles of good solar exposure, favorable slopes, access to roads and transmission lines, and minimal environmental impact.

Salazar estimated that the areas could generate nearly 100,000 MW, and announced his intention to have 13 commercial scale solar power plants under construction by the end of 2010. BLM is already considering environmental reviews for two NextLight Silver State arrays in Nevada, totaling 407 MW. (For comparison, typical coal-fired power plants in the U.S. are 500 to 700 MW in size. One megawatt of coal-fired capacity will power 400 to 900 homes, depending on their location and demand for air conditioning.) The BLM has already begun the process of developing environmental impact statements for three solar projects in California, including two by Stirling Energy Systems totaling 1,600 MW of capacity, and the 400 MW Ivanpah project by BrightSource Energy.

Applications for 10 MW or larger plants would be fast-tracked under the new program, which will radically streamline the permitting and development process and assume responsibility for one of the most burdensome aspects of getting utility scale solar plants built: environmental reviews.

The BLM has been struggling to process a backlog of pending applications for 470 renewable energy projects, including 158 commercial solar projects totaling some 97,000 MW—enough to power 29 million homes, and equivalent to 29% of the nation's electricity demand, according to the agency.

At present, zero permits have been approved. Progress has been impeded by concerns over species protection, availability of water (primarily for the cooling cycles of the power plants), and a maze of approval processes in multiple government agencies with overlapping jurisdictions.

Projects nearing approval will be expedited under the plan, and existing applications for projects in approved areas will be given priority.

"With coordinated environmental studies, good land use-planning and zoning, and priority processing, we can accelerate responsible solar energy production," Salazar said.

CONVERSATION STARTED ON GENERAL THREAD
7/4/2009, 9:48 am Link to this post   Blog
 


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