Sun comes under a cloud

Solar companies proposing large power plants in the Mojave Desert in California are facing opposition from conservationists. They say a rush to build solar power plants threatens to tear up large tracts of desert habitat and open space.

The dispute is likely to intensify now that the Congress has moved forward on a long-term extension of the solar-tax credit.

Two other proposed Bills will fast-track solar power projects to be built on federal lands.

State mandates on utilities to provide more renewable energy has created an enormous market for solar power, which requires two things the Mojave Desert has — acreage and sunshine.

But the desert's defenders say solar panels should be located on city rooftops rather than pristine lands.

“If there were just one [proposed plant], we could deal with that. But we are looking at every valley that is not protected as a national monument or park as being a potential site for solar plants,'' says John Hiatt, a Las Vegas-based environmental activist. “It will be the industrialisation of the Mojave Desert.''

The American Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has received around 200 applications to build solar plants on federal land in recent years. In California alone, there are 80 proposals involving 700,000 acres.

“It's a land rush,'' says Greg Miller, the renewable energy programme manager in BLM's California office. No project has yet made it through BLM's permitting process.

Overwhelmed, the agency tried to put a moratorium on new applications. “I don't see us putting 80 solar projects on BLM land,'' says Miller, who notes the agency must manage the land for multiple uses.

The BLM's pace has displeased some in Congress. Representative Jon Porter of Nevada introduced a Bill recently that would limit the BLM's permit process to 180 days. And Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California is proposing doing away with environmental impact reviews.

Bright ideas

Rohrabacher says he is trying to “ensure that people who have something to offer others won't be stymied because the BLM thinks insects or reptiles are more important''.

All eyes are on Ivanpah Valley, where BrightSource Energy has proposed a concentrated solar facility along with the BLM.

BrightSource wants to build 400 megawatts of solar generation using hundreds of thousands of mirrors across 3,400 acres.

Grim future

Walking in Ivanpah Valley, Hiatt points out the nearby Mojave National Preserve and various developments within view.

These include a natural-gas power plant, a golf course and the Nevada town of Primm.

The dry lake at the bottom of the valley could become a second airport for Las Vegas, prompting Hiatt to question whether the mirrors will blind pilots.

The application from BrightSource says all vegetation within the fields of mirrors “will be cut to the soil surface to reduce the risk of fire''. Hiatt says that will cause long-term soil damage.

With the removal of vegetation goes habitat for some rare species, including the golden eagle, American badger and the desert tortoise. The desert tortoise is protected under both federal and state endangered species laws.

The application from BrightSource outlines a 20-point proposal for mitigating impacts on tortoises, including relocating them from burrows. The company also plans to offset the loss of habitat by paying to set aside an equal amount of land elsewhere.

“Our concern is there may not be any habitat available,'' says Ileene Anderson, a biologist with the Centre for Biological Diversity in Los Angeles. “With Ivanpah, so much area is public land and it's going to be hard to find land [to purchase] for permanent habitat.''

She and other conservationists are meeting solar industry representatives and public lands managers in California.

BrightSource has written in official filings that the location minimises impacts because of its proximity to power lines and pipelines.

Though tortoises were found on-site, the land is not officially designated critical habitat.

BrightSource also discounts concerns about widespread desert development.

The company cites a 2006 report from the Western Governors' Association that forecasts two gigawatts of large-scale solar power in California by 2015.

That would require no more than 16,000 acres, which BrightSource says, represents a tiny fraction of the 25-million-acre California Desert Conservation Area.