AltEnToday

The New York times published an article yesterday stating that public land solar projects will undergo a two year moratorium while environmental effects are studied. According to the article, the Bureau for Land Management has received over 130 proposals in the last 3 years, and the Bureau simply can’t keep pace with the growth in applications for concentrated solar and photovoltaic projects proposed.

This just screams irony. While the world is clamoring for clean energy sources and the solar industry has finally gained enough financial and market momentum to actually bring utility-scale solar in to reality (offsetting the production of coal, nuclear, and natural gas facilities), the federal government has dealt a figurative death-blow to new companies that might have been on the verge of proposing new facilities in areas where solar absolutely makes sense.

According to Holly Gordon, VP of legislative affairs at Ausra (a producer of solar-thermal systems) “This could completely stunt the growth of the industry.”

By no means am I advocating that we should turn a blind eye to the environmental impact that large-scale solar projects might have on the ecological balance of the places we’re talking about. . . But to be frank - we are talking about desert here. It’s just astounding to me that the environmental advocates that obviously oppose the wholesale consumption of our planet’s natural resources (and the nature of the waste of those activities) would be glad to see these projects put on hold.

Our objectives are misaligned here folks. Hopefully this doesn’t mean that we’re two years further away from real energy development in the American solar industry.