Mar 23 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - David Danelski The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.



Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday signed a state law that he and federal officials say will speed approvals for large-scale solar and wind projects, improving chances that they will meet a federal deadline to qualify for federal stimulus dollars.

The law allows energy developers to pay fees to compensate for wildlife habitat destroyed during construction, rather than having to acquire replacement land. State and federal agencies will use the fees to buy and protect land for wildlife or to restore or enhance habitat to bolster populations of plants and animals that are at risk of extinction.

The signing ceremony, illuminated with plentiful solar energy from the sky above, was held outside a 160-megawatt solar plant near Harper Lake, a dry lake and marsh area west of Barstow.

"This really makes it much easier," Schwarzenegger said. "Rather than having to go and find replacement land, they write a check."

 The governor signed the legislation on a small wooden desk placed near the rows of mirrors the plant uses to capture energy from the sun. U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, whose agency is leasing public land for energy development, attended the ceremony.

Energy companies have proposed more than 240 solar, wind and geothermal projects in the state and are seeking approvals from the California Energy Commission and federal Bureau of Land Management. To win federal stimulus dollar that could cover as much as 30 percent of construction costs, the projects must be approved and "shovel ready" by the end of this year.

Ed Duggan, executive vice president of Escondido-based wind farm developer Oak Creek Energy, praised the new law. Money from several developers could be pooled for the purchase of bigger and better habitat land, he said.

Carl Zichella, a Sierra Club renewable energy director, stopped short of embracing the policy.

"This strategy has promise," he said. "We will have to wait and see how it works."

Before the signing, Schwarzenegger and Salazar toured the NextEra Harper Lake Solar Electric Generating System. The 20-year-old plant is the largest currently operating in the world, officials said, and supplies enough electricity for more than 100,000 homes.

The two leaders and their aides also visited the nearby ruins of a graffiti-scarred feed and farm supply store building that's slated to be part of a 250-megawatt plant. The project, on 1,756 acres of former farm land, is being developed by Abengoa Solar, based in Spain.

Scott Frier, Abengoa's chief operating officer, gestured east toward some power lines to explain the vastness of the planned solar array.

"It will go as far as the eye can see along those transmission lines," he told Schwarzenegger and Salazar.

During the ceremony, Salazar noted that he has set up a fast-track approval process for nine solar and three wind projects sought on public land in California.

Frier said he would like state officials to find way to also fast-track projects, such as Abengoa's, on privately owned land that isn't home to threatened species, such as the desert tortoise.

His company's investment in the project would be $1.2 billion and could qualify for more than $300 million in stimulus dollars, he said.

Reach David Danelski at 951-368-9471 or ddanelski@PE.com

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