7/30/2009 8:12:00 PM Public can comment on solar energy plans
The Daily Courier
The federal government has extended its public comment period on a study of suitable locations for solar power stations in six states including Arizona.
The Arizona sites include one just west of Congress in southern Yavapai County. Two others are located near Brenda and Palo Verde.
The comment period now extends until Sept. 14.
The U.S. Department of Energy and Bureau of Land Management are evaluating 24 tracts of land spreading across 670,000 acres in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah for large-scale solar energy production.
To learn more about the study and comment on it, visit the Internet at www.solareis.anl.gov.
Large-scale solar projects generally require large amounts of water.
For example, the BLM is currently analyzing one proposal that wants to use approximately 2,500 acre-feet of local groundwater on 4,000 acres of BLM land just south of Buckeye. It would produce about 375 megawatts of power.
At public meetings in early August, the BLM has asked the proponent Boulevard Associates LLC to discuss issues such as where it would obtain this water supply, explained Joe Incardine, BLM national project manager for such proposals.
In its upcoming study about the project, BLM also wants to explore the possibility for a dry cooled solar facility that would use much less water, he said.
People can send comments on this proposal through Sept. 7.
For more information, go to the Internet at blm.gov/az and click on the Sonoran Solar Energy Project public meetings.
Reader Comments
Posted: Friday, July 31, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
Please get your facts straight: Actually, COP proposes to transfer 800 - 11600 acre feet per year from the Big Chino, which will cut the Verde River base flow and damage the riparian environment for the top 24 miles of river. As far as the solar power plant water use, we would all prefer dry cooled plants. It makes no sense to locate a power plant in the desert and then drain the aquifer...
Posted: Friday, July 31, 2009
Article comment by:
Environmentalists Turn a Blind Eye
Oh how green it is... "2,500 acre-feet of local groundwater" [per year!]. By comparison, the environmentalists are suing Prescott over a mere 800 acre-feet per year.
