Yellow flag on green energy in desert





It might seem like environmental groups would be the most enthusiastic supporters that the solar energy industry could have.

But if you think environmentalists are taking a full-speed-ahead approach to expansion of the industry, think again. Although they're by no means opposing efforts to generate more solar energy, they're urging caution as companies plan for growth in Southern Nevada and elsewhere in the West.

Why? Because although solar energy is more earth-friendly than coal-fired or natural gas plants, environmentalists say arrays can catastrophically damage plants and wildlife if built on sensitive land, including the Mojave Desert.

"All energy sources have environmental impacts, so it's really important to keep in mind when looking at all of these things, that nothing is free," said Barbara Boyle, senior campaign representative for the National Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign. "The whole issue with solar really relates to finding the right places to put solar energy and not putting it in the wrong places."

Those wrong places include undisturbed stretches of Mojave landscape, Boyle said. She and other environmentalists say that although the desert may look indestructible, it's actually remarkably fragile ecologically. Damaged plants don't grow back quickly, if at all. And in a landscape where life and death for wildlife exists on a razor's edge, even limited environmental damage can lead to a loss of food, water and shelter for animals.

"The main conservation approach in the Mojave is protection," said John Zablocki, Mojave Desert program director for the Nature Conservancy. "Once you impact an area, it's hard to restore it."

As proof of how long damage can last, Boyle says marks left by tank tracks during a World War II-era training exercise in the Southern California desert still are plainly visible.

The environmental problems start with the amount of land needed to build or expand large-scale solar arrays. The $2.2 billion Ivanpah Solar Power Facility just across the California border from Primm, for example, covers about 3,500 acres, making it 25 percent bigger than McCarran International Airport. Placing solar panels on such large areas can damage plant life and eliminate habitat for animals.

In addition, some solar facilities, known as solar thermal plants, require significant amounts of water. The arrays operate by directing reflections of the sun's rays to a massive boiler, creating steam that powers electricity-generating turbines. Water also is used to help keep the mirrors clean.

So how can solar blossom without harming the Mojave?

The Nature Conservancy proposes placing solar arrays on 1.8 million acres of developed land, such as at abandoned mines, ranches or landfills.

But in determining where to build new arrays, industry officials face considerations beyond environmental impact, such as proximity to power transmission lines and to roads that can carry workers. Building such infrastructure adds costs that can make a project financially infeasible.

Sean Gallagher, vice president of state affairs for the Solar Energy Industries Association, said solar developers were working with environmentalists to find sites that would be both economically viable and ecologically sound.

Areas where industry execs and environmentalists agree that development should flourish: residential rooftops, the tops of parking structures and other urban areas that could support arrays in the Las Vegas Valley. Both groups supported eliminating a controversial cap on expanding net metering, which allows NV Energy customers to use solar panels to power their homes and provide energy to the grid. The program provides a 6-cent credit per kilowatt hour of solar energy that residential customers send back to the grid.

Officials did away with Nevada's cap after the legislative session, but now the Public Utilities Commission is scheduled to decide whether to impose new fees on residential solar power, which could have a chilling effect on the industry's growth.

But Gallagher said urban areas were near the top of the solar industry's sites for expansion. Increasing rooftop generation and expanding into developed areas makes more business sense than taking a chance on projects in sensitive areas, he said. The reason: There's less chance that urban projects would be derailed by environmental regulations.

"Our member companies don't want to spend time, money and energy on projects that may get blocked," Gallagher said.

While industry representatives and environmentalists say they're trying to find common ground, there remain points of tension between them. One is over land-use variances contained in a solar expansion plan developed by the U.S. Energy and Interior departments. Another is over a land plan being developed by the Bureau of Land Management, which will establish zones where solar can be expanded.

"We're really having some concerns over that," Boyle said of the BLM plan. "There are areas that have high-density tortoise and bighorn sheep population, and some migratory bird routes."

But Zablocki and Boyle said they were hopeful environmentalists, solar developers and government officials could work together on siting.

"There are ample places to put solar energy to meet all of our needs," Boyle said. "We just have to dig down and find them."

-- By Ric Anderson, Las Vegas Sun

lasvegassun.com

http://www.energybiz.com/article/15/11/yellow-flag-green-energy-desert