From slow lane to fast track December, 2009: US Department of the Interior to cut red tape for at least 13 large-scale CSP and PV projects on public land – 5.3 GW could break ground by late 2010 United States Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October signed an agreement to speed up permitting of renewable energy projects on federal land in California so that developers can qualify for economic stimulus funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The Recovery Act created a grant program to cover 30 percent of the installed cost of renewable energy projects breaking ground by Dec. 1, 2010, and a loan guarantee program for projects that begin construction by Sept. 11, 2011 (see PI 8/2009, p. 22). In addition, the Department of the Interior (DOI) identified 23 renewable energy projects in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Wyoming – including 13 large-scale solar facilities – that Salazar believes can be fully permitted for construction in order to meet the 2010 deadline. These include nine concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) plants with a combined generating capacity of approximately 4.5 GW and four PV projects with a combined capacity of 717 MW (see table, p. 15). The projects would create more than 48,000 jobs during construction and contribute enough power for almost 1.8 million American homes, according to Salazar. These so-called »fast-track« projects are the most advanced among a large number of applicants seeking right-of-way permits to build on federal public land controlled by the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the agency within the DOI responsible for managing 258 million surface acres across the US. Approval of these first solar projects by December 2010 would mark a major turning point for the BLM. Since 2005, more than 158 CSP and PV projects representing nearly 100 GW of capacity have been proposed on BLM land – mostly in Arizona, California and Nevada (see PI 6/2009, p. 17). None of these projects have been approved to date. In the summer of 2008, together with the Department of Energy (DOE), the BLM began a »programmatic environmental impact study« involving federal and state agencies, and hundreds of industry stakeholders, environmental groups and communities. Originally scheduled for completion by summer 2010, the study is delayed by about a year, according to BLM officials. Only the »fast-track« projects will be allowed to move ahead before completion of the study. Based on the study’s findings, the BLM intends to make a ruling on responsible development of large-scale solar projects. As part of the effort, agencies are focused on creating 24 distinct areas for solar energy development in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. »If developed, the tracts that we are studying could produce as much as 100,000 MW of electricity,« said Secretary Salazar in an Oct. 12 speech in Los Angeles before signing the agreement together with Gov. Schwarzenegger. »Our state process is slow, the federal process is slow,« admitted Gov. Schwarzenegger, pointing to »mountains of red tape« that are hindering projects from breaking ground and making it difficult for California to meet its target of relying on renewable energy for 33 percent of the state’s electricity consumption by 2020. »Companies call me all the time and tell me they are ready to invest billions of dollars in our state, but they can’t get the permits because of these mountains of red tape,« said the California governor. Turning point for BLM According to Salazar, to expedite renewable energy projects on BLM land, the federal government has already invested $41 million from the Recovery Act. This included establishing new BLM offices in 10 western states to coordinate the myriad state and federal agencies involved in the environmental review and permitting of fast-track applications. »The teams will also assist in addressing the issue of transmission to get the energy from where it is produced to the place where it is consumed,« he added. While no solar projects proposed on BLM land have been approved since the agency received the first applications in 2005, the agency permitted more than 22,000 new oil and natural gas drilling projects, mostly in the western US, between 2006 and 2008 alone, according to a recent report by the US Government Accountability Office. The report found that during those three years, the BLM issued 192 right-of-way permits for oil and gas development in violation of the law – statutory environmental and public reviews were not conducted – and issued another 154 permits »not in compliance with BLM guidance.« Ironically, at the very same time the BLM began its multi-year environmental study of large-scale solar projects on public land in the summer of 2008, citing requirements in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, the agency was in the regular practice of illegally issuing permits for the type of projects that NEPA was created to protect the environment against when the law was first passed. While Salazar has vowed to change the culture of the BLM, state agencies have a lot of work to do as well, according to Rainer Aringhoff, president of Solar Millennium LLC, a California-based company that has three CSP projects on the fast-track list. »Recent experience shows that the involved federal agencies are getting increasingly focused and expediting the permitting timelines. This progress has to be matched by California state agencies,« writes Aringhoff. Aringhoff cites major transmission and land-use hurdles that must still be overcome in order for fast-track projects to break ground in just a little over a year. The cost of permitting is a major issue as well, according to Tessera Solar CEO Bob Lukefahr, whose company is developing two large Stirling-dish CSP projects in California listed for fast-track treatment. »It is now more expensive to develop a project on public land than on private land, and that’s a tragedy,« Lukefahr told PHOTON International. He claims that various environmental studies, permitting and mitigation strategies may cost as much as $100 million before the company actually breaks ground in California. »The message from the governor, from the top, is exactly what we want,« said Lukefahr, adding, »But at that price, public lands are no longer viable for solar. If only it were as easy as it is for oil and gas.« Garrett Hering © PHOTON International, December 2009 Duplicate only with allowance of PHOTON Europe GmbH, Aachen, Germany  back