BLM studying solar development impact

Aug 14 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Matt Hildner The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

 

The Bureau of Land Management is looking to reduce uncertainty regarding how impacts from solar development in the San Luis Valley's public lands might be mitigated.

While there are no pending proposals for the 20,000 acres the agency has designated specifically for solar development, the agency initiated the study in February and hopes to complete it by early summer 2015.

Agency spokesman Kyle Sullivan said the study also has the potential to reduce the costs, complexity and timeline associated with off-site mitigation activities and project approvals.

Part of the agency's analysis will include a landscape assessment of nearly 6.1 million acres, including the San Luis Valley and the Taos Plateau.

The landscape assessment will look at the impacts of climate change, invasive species and human development on ecological, cultural and socioeconomic values.

So far, there have been four utility-scale solar projects built in the San Luis Valley, although all have come on private ground in Alamosa County.

The BLM and the U.S. Department of Energy completed an environmental impact statement in 2012 to disclose the impacts that would likely result from developing solar on public lands.

Should the BLM receive any specific proposals, it would also have to conduct a site specific analysis for them.

But current constraints on the valley's transmission grid will influence the amount of development that could take place on public land.

The valley's transmission system has the capacity to accommodate roughly 100 megawatts of new power generation.

That figure could be reduced by half if California-based Sun-Power secures land-use permits from Alamosa County for a 49-MW plant that is currently under review.

The Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association has initiated planning for a new line, including the examination of a possible route that would run through the south end of the valley.

The BLM will conduct a string of public workshops and field trips to the valley's solar zones in September. For more information, visit blm. gov/co/st/en/fo/slvfo/ solar.html

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