Delays plague solar energy

ROACH DRY LAKE, Nev. (AP) — Not a light bulb's worth of solar electricity has been produced on the millions of acres of public desert set aside for it. Not one project to build glimmering solar farms has even broken ground.

Instead, five years after federal land managers opened up stretches of the Southwest to developers, vast tracts still sit idle.

An examination of U.S. Bureau of Land Management records and interviews with agency officials shows that the BLM operated a first-come, first-served leasing system that quickly overwhelmed its small staff and enabled companies, regardless of solar industry experience, to squat on land without any real plans to develop it.

At a time when the nation drills ever deeper for oil off its shores even as it tries to diversify its energy supply, the federal government has, so far, failed to use the land it already has — some of the world's best for solar — to produce renewable electricity.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Nevada, where a Goldman Sachs & Co. subsidiary with no solar background has claims with the BLM on nearly half the land for which applications have been filed, but no firm plan for any of the sites.

The Obama administration says it is expediting the most promising projects, with some approvals expected soon. And yet, it will be years before the companies begin sending electricity to the Southwest's sprawling, energy-hungry cities.

“Clearly we spent a lot of time and effort on oil and gas, but those priorities have changed,” said Ray Brady, BLM's head of energy policy in Washington.

Congress in 2005 gave the Interior Department a deadline: approve 10,000 megawatts, or about 5 million homes' worth during peak hours, of renewable energy on public lands by 2015. Reaching that goal was left to the BLM, which oversees federal land and knows oil, gas and mining leases but is new to solar.

The Bush administration, however, kept BLM's focus on oil. BLM's database of solar applications shows many languished for years while the agency approved more than 73,000 oil and gas leases in the last five years. BLM has yet to give final approval to one solar lease.

BLM's solar leasing system ended up allowing developers to lay claim to prime sites — many located in the deserts that span California, Nevada and Arizona. All developers had to do was fill out an application, pay a fee and file development plans.

But many were so vague that it was difficult for BLM to separate the serious projects from the speculative ones.

“People were making (solar) applications on federal lands not knowing what kind of technology to propose and ... how to develop the land,” Brady said.

In the Southern California desert near Palm Springs, for example, San Diego-based LightSource Renewables filed an application in August 2008 for 2,500 acres, BLM records show. The small, two-person development firm knew enough to recognize the land's worth — it was close to transmission lines — but had no previous experience with such projects.

Co-founder Paul Whitworth said it is now focusing on getting private land, and is not pursuing plans for its BLM site. The agency, however, still considers the application active, meaning other interested firms cannot access it.

“We don't know what technology will win or lose, and certain sites cater to certain technologies, but a good site is a good site,” Whitworth said when asked why they filed their application.

The firm has never filed a development plan, records show.

While dozens of smaller firms like LightSource joined in the rush, BLM records show two Goldman subsidiaries filed 52 of the 354 applications throughout the region, more than any other company.

“Those 52 applications are an example of the problem of clogging up the system,” said V. John White, executive director the Sacramento, Calif.-based Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, a clean-energy advocacy group, in an e-mail. The system has limited access by experienced solar developers to the best sites.

“Some of these lease applications tied up more land than would be needed for a real project,” he said.

The Obama Administration has identified 14 promising “fast-track” projects targeted for approval by year's end so they can qualify for stimulus funding.

When completed, these facilities could generate 6,000 megawatts, enough electricity for several million homes during peak hours. There is a ready market for big plants, with California's strict climate change laws creating a huge demand among utilities for solar power.

Companies that hold BLM solar development applications are prohibited from selling them, but the companies themselves can be sold along with the potentially lucrative applications.

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