Major solar projects make progress in California

Sep 29 - USA TODAY

California is on track to approve a wave of solar farms this year that will more than double the state's ability to generate electricity from solar power.

Since August, four major solar projects -- including one on 7,000-plus acres billed as the world's largest -- have won state approval. The California Energy Commission is expected to OK two more this week. The solar farms, which concentrate the sun's power on mirrors to produce heat used to generate electricity, could eventually produce enough electricity to power 675,000 homes.

No other state is moving as aggressively as California to add solar. Its embrace of big-scale solar may inspire other states, boosters say. "These are the first projects of this size in the U.S.," says Rhone Resch, CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association. "They're a sign to the rest of the country that solar is here, not a technology of the future."

California, the nation's largest solar producer, has ample sunshine and big renewable-energy goals. Last week, state regulators passed rules requiring that one-third of electricity sold in California come from renewable sources by 2020.

California's push for solar is also being driven by a federal deadline for stimulus funds. Projects must be underway by Dec. 31 to get federal cash grants in lieu of tax credits equal to 30% of the projects' costs.

Late last year, California and federal regulators agreed to expedite projects that were on track to meet the stimulus deadline. The federal Bureau of Land Management has fast-tracked the large California projects, four large solar projects in Nevada and one in Arizona.

"We've made significant progress without cutting corners" on environmental protections, says Michael Picker, renewable-energy adviser to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

By year's end, California's energy commission is expected to rule on nine solar farms that could produce 4,300 megawatts of power. One megawatt produces enough electricity for 225 California homes, the industry estimates. Some projects also need federal approval because they are on federal land.

Along with the solar thermal farms, California has more than a dozen large solar photovoltaic and wind projects trying to meet the stimulus deadline.

Environmentalists, who are largely supportive of solar, sought changes to some thermal farms to lessen damage to wildlife and plants.

Future farms should be more carefully sited on already degraded land and less on desert wilderness, says Kimberley Delfino, a program director for Defenders of Wildlife.