Solar in the Central Valley – The Idea is Catching On
Posted March 16, 2010 in Solving Global Warming
Just about a year ago, I wrote about the potential for solar production on the West side of the San Joaquin Valley to produce multiple benefits. As this story in the Fresno Bee indicates, the idea is catching on. The Westlands Water District has signed a lease with a private investment group as part of an effort to explore a 5,000 megawatt solar power plant on up to 30,000 acres of land. The project could provide enough power for 2.5 to 4 million California homes.
The land in question has already been retired from farming as a result of salt accumulation. Obviously, this land has far less environmental value than land in the Mojave Desert, which has been the primary focus of most industrial-scale solar development proposals in California. The Westlands site is relatively close to California cities, as well as major power transmission corridors. A project of this magnitude also has the potential to generate jobs in a region that has been hit by three dry years, the collapse of the construction industry and the general economic downturn.
This project is still in the early stages. It must secure financing, obtain permits and agreements with utilities to purchase power. However, the growing common ground around this idea, among the Westlands Water District, farmers, environmentalists and solar entrepreneurs, is certainly promising.
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Comments
Efrain Rojas — Mar 16 2010 06:46 PM
I am sure the ecofundamentalist movement will find a way to put a stop to this project. When everybody has veto power, nothing gets done.
Brandon Hill — Mar 17 2010 12:02 PM
The Sierra Club has supposedly lined up in favor of this project. It's good to know that some solar companies have their wits about them and don't insist on destroying prime ag land and wildlife habitat so they can make huge profits from the sun's rays.
bud laumer — Mar 17 2010 11:08 PM
You loose so much energy though retail wheeling and other tricks involving corridors with miles of transmission lines, that these industrial locations are silly unless you have to produce at scale--like a nuke plant. A distributed system with small solar installations on rooftops at the very location of the consumption avoids these losses and puts the solar where the consumers need the power. But, big energy companies want big plants even when the technology works better when distributed across the grid. Truly a waste of energy and a mismatch, but big $$ sometimes chases silly solutions...
Efrain Rojas — Mar 20 2010 03:22 PM
Bud, there is a concept called economies of scale that makes centralized energy production much more cost effective than designing and building unique solutions for every rooftop. It is an environmentalist pipe dream for every home to be fully self sufficient. Big $$$ mistakes sometimes but overall they know what they are doing better than you.