Thread: Desert clash in West over solar potential, water

Desert clash in West over solar potential, water

By RITA BEAMISH, The Associated Press
4:24 p.m. April 18, 2009

Oakland, Calif. — A westward dash to power electricity-hungry cities by cashing in on the desert's most abundant resource – sunshine – is clashing with efforts to protect the tiny pupfish and desert tortoise and stinginess over the region's rarest resource: water.

Water is the cooling agent for what traditionally has been the most cost-efficient type of large-scale solar plants. To some solar companies answering Washington's push for renewable energy on vast government lands, it's also an environmental thorn. The unusual collision pits natural resources protections against President Barack Obama's plans to produce more environmentally friendly energy.

The solar hopefuls are encountering overtaxed aquifers and a legendary legacy of Western water wars and legal and regulatory scuffles. Some are moving to more costly air-cooled technology – which uses 90 percent less water – for solar plants that will employ miles of sun-reflecting mirrors across the Western deserts. Others see market advantages in solar dish or photovoltaic technologies that don't require steam engines and cooling water and that are becoming more economically competitive.

The National Park Service is worried about environmental consequences of solar proposals on government lands that are administered by the Bureau of Land Management. It says it supports the solar push but is warning against water drawdowns, especially in southern Nevada. In the Amargosa Valley, the endangered, electric-blue pupfish lives in a hot water, aquifer-fed limestone cavern called Devil's Hole.

"It is not in the public interest for BLM to approve plans of development for water-cooled solar energy projects in the arid basins of southern Nevada, some of which are already over-appropriated," Jon Jarvis, director of the Park Service's Pacific West Region, wrote to the BLM director in Nevada.

Jarvis' e-mail from February, obtained by The Associated Press, noted that the rare pupfish's dwindling numbers prompted Nevada to ban new groundwater allocations within 25 miles of the pool.

Jarvis urged the BLM to promote technologies that use less water and hold off on permits until it finishes its assessment of the solar program next year. The BLM tried suspending new applications last year but relented under pressure from industry and advocates of renewable energy.

"Water is a big concern and the desert tortoise is a major concern, and the amount of site preparation is a concern," said Linda Resseguie, a BLM project manager. The government in reviewing each project wants to make careful decisions over what it considers "a potentially irreversible commitment of lands," she said.

Water is among the complications in deserts where more than 150 solar applications have been submitted for hot spots in Nevada, California, and Arizona, plus a few in New Mexico.

Companies are wrestling with routes for long-distance transmission lines and habitat for the threatened desert tortoise. They also are worried about a proposal being developed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., for a Mojave national monument, which could put up to 600,000 acres off-limits alongside already protected park and military lands. It could affect at least 14 solar and five wind energy proposals.

The Spanish-owned energy company, Iberdrola, has submitted 12 applications in four states. Its solar managing director, Kim Fiske, said her company is planning to use photovoltaic technology in Amargosa Valley but elsewhere will evaluate each site's feasibility for water. Photovoltaic systems use conducting material to convert sunlight directly to electricity and need only nominal amounts of water to wash their solar panels, compared with the traditional steam-turbine solar that uses much larger volumes of water for cooling towers.

"Water usage is becoming the larger issue. Some companies still want wet cooling and say it's less efficient to do dry cooling, and they need 10 percent more land to get the same output," said Peter Weiner, an attorney representing solar companies. Some are exploring hybrid systems that use water during the hottest part of the day.

The government won't say how much water would be needed by applicants because those proposals are still in flux. But National Park Service hydrologists last fall tallied more than 50,000 acre feet per year – nearly 16.3 billion gallons – proposed by applications in Amargosa Valley alone, or enough to supply more than 50,000 typical American homes. Nevada previously said the basin could support only half that. Since then, some companies have dropped out or switched to photovoltaics, making that estimate of 16.3 billion gallons outdated.

Nevada's policy and legal mandates restrict water in the driest areas. California regulators warn that wet-cooled projects face an uphill climb. The two under review there so far on government land use minimal water. First up is Oakland, Calif.-based BrightSource Energy's five-square mile, air-cooled, mirror complex near the Mojave National Preserve.

In Arizona, most solar proposals are away from populous areas with the most water restrictions.

Water is "a hot button for everybody," said Fiske. "Everyone is concerned about water. It's probably one of the biggest issues."
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On the Net:
National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov/
Bureau of Land Management: http://www.blm.gov
Iberdrola: http://www.iberdrolausa.com
BrightSource Energy: http://www.brightsourceenergy.com/

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/ ... ndex=84585

When I was growing up....California, as well as ALL ocean communities, were supposed to be creating drinking water from our oceans. I don't live there.....how's that project going?

I lived in Nebraska....a "breezy day" in Nebraska was "hurricane forced winds" in Florida. Not consistant rules across a country.

Originally Posted by crazybird

When I was growing up....California, as well as ALL ocean communities, were supposed to be creating drinking water from our oceans. I don't live there.....how's that project going?

Largest Desalination Plant in the USA - Carlsbad, CA.
USA US. CA Huntington Beach . . .

www.worldwater.org/data20062007/Table21.pdf - Similar pages

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Thirsty California starts to drink the Pacific
| World news |
Eighteen desalination plants are under consideration in California, offering a possible way out of the state's seemingly inexorable water ...
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/apr/13/usa.danglaister
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Pacific Institute - Map of Proposed Desalination Plants in California ... Four desalination plants are proposed in Northern California. ...
www.pacinst.org/reports/desalination/20060627.html

Largest Desalination Plant in the USA - Carlsbad, CA.
USA US. CA Huntington Beach . . .

Do you know how many decades ago, this was supposed to be the "new thing"? Half of our country has oceans and there's just 2 plants?

These used to be a lot more permeable coverage in this country which allowed rain water to percolate into the water tables. Then along came development putting concrete and rooftops that allowed little water to percolate into the soil before heading to the sewer. Parking lots and big box stores increased, demanding more power while covering acres of formerly permeable land. Shade trees were cut down and so the air-conditioners had to run more in hotter climates with plenty of sun.
Photovoltaics, which are the basis of solar panels have also improved in these last few years where it is no longer a flat panel that needs to be adjusted continually to track the sun, but someone has designed panels which use cells in rods in a semi-round formation to track the sun better without continual adjustment. Why don't Walmart and Home Depot and other mega-stores cover their acres of roof with solar panels? Wal-Mart has a few planned projects, I have heard.
There have even been inventions of photovoltaics being imbedded in exterior paint and window glass for residential homes. And from what I understand, regular roofing can also use this technology.
First we don't need so much imperviable coverage for the rains, but the coverage we do have should be put to better use, rather than hot black gravel-infused tar paper guarding the HVAC units.
And why the crap is a Spanish company taking over OUR portion of the sun?