US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu has announced that large tracts of land across America’s West will become dedicated “solar energy zones” that would be set aside for future utility-scale solar power projects.
The zones were identified as part of a detailed environmental study by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in cooperation with the Dept. of Energy (DOE) and Dept.of the Interior (DOI).
Known as the “Draft Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement” (PEIS), the study identifies the most appropriate areas of North America to situate solar farms.
“This proposal lays out the next phase of President Obama’s strategy for rapid and responsible development of renewable energy on America’s public lands,” Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said. “This analysis will help renewable energy companies and federal agencies focus development on areas of our public lands that are best suited for large-scale solar development.”
The Draft Solar PEIS looked at around 120 million acres of land across BLM administered areas in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. All six states have excellent solar energy potential.
After excluding lands with slopes of 5 percent or more and anywhere with sunlight levels below 6.5 kilowatt-hours per square meter per day, rendering them unsuitable for solar development; the BLM found 22 million acres were acceptable and would be available for “right of way” solar proposal applications. That includes about 677,400 acres identified as Solar Energy Zones.
The Dept. of Energy expects that by mapping and recognising official “Solar Energy Zones” investment capital will quickly flow into large-scale solar utility projects.
According to a DOE statement, “Eight utility-scale solar projects have been approved in the last three months through the Department’s “fast-track initiative” for BLM lands in California and Nevada that, combined, will generate 3,572 megawatts of electricity. The BLM’s current solar energy caseload includes 104 active solar applications covering 1 million acres that developers estimate could generate 60,000 megawatts of electricity.”
