Why Solar Power Does Not Belong in Pristine Desert
Mr. Conrad Kramer wrote an excellent op-ed in the San Diego Tribune explaining why putting massive solar power facilities in the middle of the desert does not make sense. The piece draws from examples of poorly sited project in the Mojave's sister, the Colorado Desert to the south. It's worth a read.
We’ve all grown up in love with the idea of renewable energy helping to reduce our negative impact on the planet. So now that renewable energy projects are being proposed in high numbers out in the desert, many people wonder what all the controversy is about. After all, the desert is where the sun shines brightest. So why are the environmentalists still not happy?
Recent controversy over the location of renewable energy projects in the desert includes lawsuits filed against Tessera/NTR’s Imperial Valley Solar Project by the Quechuan Tribe and a separate suit against the Imperial Valley project and five others by La Cuna de Aztlan Sacred Sites Protection Circle, Californians for Renewable Energy and six individual Native American plaintiffs. These lawsuits come just as the San Diego County Board of Supervisors is contemplating the Eurus solar facility in Borrego Springs, which would require transmission through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the California Public Utilities Commission are also proposing a wind energy project abutting the park.
Why the controversy? What is not to love about renewable energy? After all, California utilities are under mandate to use larger proportions of renewables in the energy they distribute in order to move away from coal- and oil-fired plants that produce greenhouse gases. But the rub is the location.
Many renewable energy projects are being proposed for far-flung and pristine desert areas, requiring devastation of undisturbed plant and animal habitats, and destructive and inefficient transmission lines to bring the electricity back to the urban areas.
Take, for example, the proposed Eurus project on undisturbed land in the community of Borrego Springs. Any electricity generated there needs to be transmitted through the park in order to reach the San Diego area. The Eurus project alone would take up all the existing capacity on the transmission lines. Yet the county has active applications for more generation projects within Borrego Springs. The transmission lines for all these projects will have to go through the park, just like the recently defeated proposed Sunrise Powerlink northern route project. It appears that this battle will have to be fought all over again.
In a separate proposed project, BLM’s Tule Wind Energy project, wind turbines would loom over Anza-Borrego’s scenic McCain Valley, destroying its viewshed. In addition to threats to endangered species, such as the Peninsular Bighorn sheep, the Tule Wind Energy project poses a threat to birds, such as the Golden Eagle, and also to bats.
Scientists are discovering that desert soils are actually great storehouses of carbon, a contributor to greenhouse gases associated with global climate change. New evidence by UC Riverside professor Michael Allen suggests that the destruction to desert soils caused by renewable projects, and the subsequent release into the air of carbon, may actually increase greenhouse gases more than the renewable facilities would decrease them.
The argument that solar energy projects should be sited in the desert where there is more sun does not hold water. Electrical transmission of power from the distant desert to the urban areas is a highly inefficient process. Ten to 15 percent of the electricity will be lost, offsetting any slight increase in solar power from the desert sun over San Diego sun.
The San Diego region can be the leader in renewable energy, but renewable facilities should be sited where the electricity is needed. There is no need to have a huge environmentally destructive downside to renewable energy. There is no need to sully our wonderful shared dream of green power.
Our local cities, school districts and water districts are taking the lead by installing photovoltaic panels on rooftops and over parking lots. We urge the County of San Diego and the BLM to follow suit. Imagine the county’s buildings and parking lots covered in photovoltaic panels that not only generate clean energy but shade county facilities as well, reducing county operating costs. Imagine all our large urban facilities covered with solar panels, leaving the wilderness intact and our dream of a green future alive.
We urge the people of San Diego to make sure that policymakers hear this message. Comments to the county Board of Supervisors can be sent to www.sdcounty.ca.gov/bos/ecomment.html with information located at www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dplu/PC/101008.html. Tule Wind project information may be found at www.cpuc.ca.gov/environment/info/dudek/ECOSUB/ECO_Draft_EIR.htm, including information about two upcoming public meetings, and comments may be sent to ecosub@dudek.com.
The argument that solar energy projects should be sited in the desert where there is more sun does not hold water. Electrical transmission of power from the distant desert to the urban areas is a highly inefficient process. Ten to 15 percent of the electricity will be lost, offsetting any slight increase in solar power from the desert sun over San Diego sun.
From the San Diego Union Tribune
Why not solar power in the desert? Here’s why
Thursday, January 6, 2011 at midnight
Recent controversy over the location of renewable energy projects in the desert includes lawsuits filed against Tessera/NTR’s Imperial Valley Solar Project by the Quechuan Tribe and a separate suit against the Imperial Valley project and five others by La Cuna de Aztlan Sacred Sites Protection Circle, Californians for Renewable Energy and six individual Native American plaintiffs. These lawsuits come just as the San Diego County Board of Supervisors is contemplating the Eurus solar facility in Borrego Springs, which would require transmission through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the California Public Utilities Commission are also proposing a wind energy project abutting the park.
Why the controversy? What is not to love about renewable energy? After all, California utilities are under mandate to use larger proportions of renewables in the energy they distribute in order to move away from coal- and oil-fired plants that produce greenhouse gases. But the rub is the location.
Many renewable energy projects are being proposed for far-flung and pristine desert areas, requiring devastation of undisturbed plant and animal habitats, and destructive and inefficient transmission lines to bring the electricity back to the urban areas.
Take, for example, the proposed Eurus project on undisturbed land in the community of Borrego Springs. Any electricity generated there needs to be transmitted through the park in order to reach the San Diego area. The Eurus project alone would take up all the existing capacity on the transmission lines. Yet the county has active applications for more generation projects within Borrego Springs. The transmission lines for all these projects will have to go through the park, just like the recently defeated proposed Sunrise Powerlink northern route project. It appears that this battle will have to be fought all over again.
In a separate proposed project, BLM’s Tule Wind Energy project, wind turbines would loom over Anza-Borrego’s scenic McCain Valley, destroying its viewshed. In addition to threats to endangered species, such as the Peninsular Bighorn sheep, the Tule Wind Energy project poses a threat to birds, such as the Golden Eagle, and also to bats.
Scientists are discovering that desert soils are actually great storehouses of carbon, a contributor to greenhouse gases associated with global climate change. New evidence by UC Riverside professor Michael Allen suggests that the destruction to desert soils caused by renewable projects, and the subsequent release into the air of carbon, may actually increase greenhouse gases more than the renewable facilities would decrease them.
The argument that solar energy projects should be sited in the desert where there is more sun does not hold water. Electrical transmission of power from the distant desert to the urban areas is a highly inefficient process. Ten to 15 percent of the electricity will be lost, offsetting any slight increase in solar power from the desert sun over San Diego sun.
The San Diego region can be the leader in renewable energy, but renewable facilities should be sited where the electricity is needed. There is no need to have a huge environmentally destructive downside to renewable energy. There is no need to sully our wonderful shared dream of green power.
Our local cities, school districts and water districts are taking the lead by installing photovoltaic panels on rooftops and over parking lots. We urge the County of San Diego and the BLM to follow suit. Imagine the county’s buildings and parking lots covered in photovoltaic panels that not only generate clean energy but shade county facilities as well, reducing county operating costs. Imagine all our large urban facilities covered with solar panels, leaving the wilderness intact and our dream of a green future alive.
We urge the people of San Diego to make sure that policymakers hear this message. Comments to the county Board of Supervisors can be sent to www.sdcounty.ca.gov/bos/ecomment.html with information located at www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dplu/PC/101008.html. Tule Wind project information may be found at www.cpuc.ca.gov/environment/info/dudek/ECOSUB/ECO_Draft_EIR.htm, including information about two upcoming public meetings, and comments may be sent to ecosub@dudek.com.
Kramer is executive director of the Anza-Borrego Foundation, which works to support Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
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