storage. However, in light of renewable energy’s
great value and benefits, states and the federal
government are obliged to make studied decisions in balancing land use with other factors.
To place this in perspective, 300,000 acres have
been set aside for off-road vehicles, and almost
5 million acres are set aside for military bases in
the California desert.
Transmission is another key challenge.
Connecting renewable resources to the power
grid involves meticulous preparations, applications and reviews that can easily be delayed by
state and local jurisdictions, requiring a truly
national strategy to address the challenges of
new transmission.
Environmental reviews at the federal and state
levels often take a year or longer to complete. The
Solar Energy Industries Association and others
are working with agencies, including the Bureau
of Land Management (BLM), to ensure a clear,
thorough review process for these lands and to
speed the process. The BLM owns vast areas of
land in the West, many acres of which are targeted
for CSP deployment. In the last few months, the
BLM has initiated a fast-track process to shorten
the time to approve applications for CSP and
utility-scale PV deployment. In California, Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has initiated a fast-track
system to minimize barriers within the state’s
control for “shovel-ready” projects. In Arizona,
Gov. Jan Brewer is examining ways to remove
barriers for the state’s most viable projects.
CsP plants with thermal energy storage
using molten salt can provide more uniform electricity output over the day and
meet the evening peak demand.
Valuing CsP as a national Priority
There is much to be gained in advancing
the performance and lowering the cost of CSP
systems through R&D programs cost-shared
by DOE and the technology companies. The
performance of the SEGS plants, the successful
development of Nevada Solar One, the progress
made by the national energy labs, industry innovations and the growing number of signed PPAs
have greatly increased DOE’s interest in, and
commitment to, CSP development. As a result,
DOE’s CSP budget reached $49.7 million in fiscal year 2010. A proposed $98.2 million budget
in FY2011 includes a major element to cost-share demonstration projects with industry.
The significant increase in CSP deployment
slated in coming years will dramatically offset
greenhouse gases internationally and generate
many thousands of jobs in the United States
in the construction and operation of these
power plants.
Abengoa Solar’s 250-MW Solana trough
plant, under development in Arizona, provides
a striking example of the potential. More than
1,700 workers will be needed to construct the
plant over two to three years, and almost 80
skilled workers will be required to operate and
maintain it. Hundreds of people will be needed
to manufacture the thousands of mirrors and
receiver tubes required by Solana, creating even
more U.S. jobs. Using Solana as reference, if all
the 8,700 MW of CSP projects with signed
PPAs were to make it through the permitting,
financing and other hurdles, they would generate more than 45,000 construction jobs, more
than 3,000 O&M jobs and thousands more
manufacturing jobs. ST
