(Just an observation.) Makes a fundamental mistake:
iThere is no lack of available land. The deserts of the Southwest could theoretically power the entire nation.
It's not the lack of land it's the PRICE of suitably located land.
Note:
In California alone, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has received requests for the development of 34 CSP plants on 300,000 acres, totaling some 24,000 megawatts, according to figures from the California Energy Commission. In early 2010, the stock of CSP projects worldwide was only around a thousand megawatts, according to IEA.
They want FREE land. Land the taxpayer owns. Like the train corporations, once they get this land it's going to be their's forever. The locals are starting to understand that. Desert ecologies are fragile. The tank tread marks from Patton's training maneuvers are still evident in the desert near Chiriaco Summit, CA.
The more they build, the more noticeable and political this will become.
They are going to want land that is easier to develop (flat) and more accessible, roads are expensive in the vast desert. And that land may be the land that should not be developed. They may not want the land that is more suitable ecologically.
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Ironically I think many of the oil exporting countries are well suited for solar, plus they have nothing else other than oil so the ecological/political aspects of covering areas of great beauty or importance with solar factories will be less of an obstacle. |
