U.S. temporarily halts new solar projects

[Mugu]

By Dan Frosch, New York Times via mercurynews.com

DENVER - Faced with a surge in the number of proposed solar power plants, the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies the environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years.

Much of the 119 million surface acres of federally administered land in the West is ideal for solar energy, particularly in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada.

Solar companies have filed more than 130 proposals with the Bureau of Land Management since 2005. They center on the companies' desires to lease public land to build solar plants, then sell the energy to utilities. According to the bureau, the applications, which cover more than 1 million acres, are for projects that have the potential to power more than 20 million homes.

But the decision to freeze new solar proposals temporarily, reached late last month, has caused widespread concern in the alternative-energy industry, as fledgling solar companies must wait to see just as the demand for viable alternative energy is accelerating.

http://www.mercurynews.com/nationworld/ci_9716280?nclick_check=1">Complete article

[ixion]

1. our government seems hell bent on running us into the ditch

I think this is bs ploy given to Big Energy. :grr:

[Spouting Horn]

3. The Feds shouldn't

be subsidizing "solar energy" because it would be "big energy" who end up getting the subsidies...just like the big ethanol related agribusiness who fleece the American Taxpayer year after year.

[jwirr]

5. You mean just like FDR should not funded the REA projects?

[ixion]

7. I'm not talking about subsidizing... we're talking about obstruction

which is what this is.

[medeak]

2. Bush family invested heavily in solar?

hmmmmmm

[KT2000]

4. Deal with the Saudis?

they are concerned the US will turn to alternative sources. They must have gotten something for increasing production.

[Xenocrates]

6. Those big wind farms in CA

were built before it was realized how deadly they were for the bird population.

We don't know the impact that a solar farm would have on the deserts of the American Southwest.

[Radical Activist]

8. They still kill fewer birds than coal fire power plants.

Its just easier to see the direct impact.

[Spouting Horn]

14. Which birds did the

coal fired plant kill?

[Radical Activist]

16. Ones that like fish and water.

Coal plants are the largest source of mercury contamination in lakes and streams.

http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/research/34143

[cornermouse]

9. They're worried about the coal and ethanol.

[MichiganVote]

10. I'll never understand, apart from the power of the oil companies, why humans refuse

to recognize the power of the sun. I hope this changes in my lifetime.............

[Selatius]

11. That's because you should only recognize the power of God first!

You worship the Egyptian god of the sun Ra? Or do you worship God? You want solar power! You advocate heathen witchcraft magic! You will burn for your heresy! :sarcasm:

[MichiganVote]

12. Really? I thought maybe I'd just die of old age someday.

[Canuckistanian]

13. Wrong! It'll take about 6 MONTHS

At which time, Obama will waive this "moratorium" like Republican governments have dispensed with "moratoria" for all those oil companies.

[csziggy]

15. But why put solar panels far from the places where the power will be used?

And why put them in marginal environments that have fragile ecosystems?

Why not put solar panels on every roof or at least the roofs with the proper orientation? Less transmission loss since the power could go straight into the building. Excess can go into the grid for use in buildings that do not have enough roof surface or proper orientation.


Solar future brightens as oil soars
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/16/renewableenergy.energy

Germany, the world leader in PV thanks to its "feed-in tariff" support, installed 1.1 gigawatts of capacity last year - the equivalent of a large power station. It now has nearly half a million houses fitted with PV panels. The feed-in tariff pays people with solar panels above-market rates for selling power back to the grid.

"High oil prices have boosted demand even more. The market will probably expand another 40% this year," said Carsten Körnig, of the German solar industry association, referring to both PV and solar thermal systems, which produce hot water. He said his previous assumption - that grid parity would be reached in Germany in five to seven years - now looked very conservative since it allowed for only a 3% rise in electricity prices each year. In many countries increases of 20% a year are becoming the norm.