California Says Yes to Solar Power

SACRAMENTO - A 370-megawatt solar field in rural northeast San Bernardino County unanimously cleared the California Energy Commission on Wednesday, the latest in a string of projects on a fast track to qualify for federal stimulus money by the end of the year.

Unlike the others, the development involves environmentally sensitive land and would displace a protected species, the desert tortoise, which is threatened with extinction.

The $2 billion project, located in the Ivanpah Valley near Primm, Nev., was approved over the objections of environmental groups and others, who contend that allowing energy development on undisturbed wildlife habitat is unnecessary, because other land is available that has equal solar potential. Oakland-based BrightSource Energy, the project's developer, should be required to build elsewhere, several speakers told the energy panel.

But all five commissioners embraced the project, citing the prospect of generating clean energy and hundreds of construction jobs.

"I believe it's a very good day for California. The benefits far outweigh the impacts," Commissioner Jeffrey D. Byron said.

Commissioner Robert B. Weisenmiller said the project will help California meet a state target of getting 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources.

"It is critical for us to reduce our fossil fuel dependence," Weisenmiller said. "It's also important not to just deal with the environmental issues, but we must deal with the California economy. When you look at San Bernardino (County), unemployment there is at least 15 percent, and that's ignoring people who've stopped looking for jobs."

BrightSource plans to build three fields of solar panels that will produce heat to generate steam and create electricity for consumers in Southern and Central California. Construction is anticipated to start this year.

The plan still needs approval from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management; the agency is expected to decide by mid-October.

BrightSource officials say their project would create almost 1,000 jobs at the peak of a 48-month construction process. Ninety workers would be needed to run the operation once all three phases are completed.

Despite the location's proximity to Nevada -- Las Vegas is about 40 miles away -- workers will be from California, BrightSource officials say. The company signed labor agreements with the Building and Construction Trades Council of Riverside and San Bernardino counties and its statewide counterpart.

Project critics said Wednesday's vote opens the door for more industrial-level development in undisturbed desert areas.

David Lamfrom, California desert field representative for the National Parks Conservation Association, said it will harm desert tortoises and encroach on the neighboring Mojave National Preserve with glare and other spillover effects.

"Pristine, tortoise-rich habitat ... is not the right place for this project," he said in an e-mail Wednesday afternoon. "What message are we sending if we sacrifice lands and species we have legally committed to protect when we all know a better alternative exists?"

That alternative, he said, is "hundreds of thousands of acres of disturbed lands prime for renewable energy development, close to communities that use the energy and desperately need the jobs."

The company has said that trying to find the 5.6 square miles needed for the project on disturbed lands isn't realistic because such properties are scattered and privately owned, meaning that potentially several owners would have to be persuaded to sell.

BrightSource officials said they have taken care in the project's design to reduce harm to the environment. The company scaled down the arrays' footprint and eliminated four of the seven 450-foot heating towers initially planned.

Contrary to environmentalist claims, only a small part of the project area will be bulldozed, company spokesman Keely Wachs said last week.

Posts that support the mirrors will be pounded into the ground with pile drivers, leaving much of the native plant life intact, he said.

Tom Hurshman, a BLM staff member who is overseeing the project, said the construction and maintenance on the BrightSource site will leave it unsuitable as habitat for wildlife.

According to an environmental report posted by the Energy Commission earlier this year, 91 percent of the project's footprint would have "long-term disturbance."

The project calls for 173,500 "heliostats," each consisting of a post with two 7.2-by-10.5-foot mirrors, the report said. The mirrors would be arranged in circular arrays to focus heat on towers where electricity is generated.

Some of the land within the arrays would have to be cleared for a network of maintenance roads.

The plant life below the mirrors would be regularly mowed to a height of 12 to 18 inches, which probably would kill most of the creosote bushes in the area, Hurshman said.

The company will have to control any invasive weeds, the report said.

The commission, which approved solar developments near Blythe and Barstow earlier this month, is scheduled to vote on five more large projects by the end of the year.

The 250-megawatt Genesis Solar Energy project west of Blythe and the 709-megawatt Imperial Valley Solar project near Calexico are on next week's agenda.