SOLAR POWER PLANTS SOONER

The BLM fast track: Speeding CSP project development in the US?
Bob Moser, 16 July 2010 (CSP Today)

"The US Bureau of Land Management is in the early stages of rolling out a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) on a total of 24 solar energy study areas, amounting to about 700,000 acres of land. It would identify and designate land for renewable energy projects, namely solar and geothermal, but questions remain…

"The BLM is on pace to have the draft…[done, reviewed and publicized] in December…spurred by the Obama Administration's desire to double clean energy capacity in two to three years…[P]olicymakers recognize that there are too many projects waiting in line for bureaucratic approval."

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"While some believe a PEIS would likely benefit large-scale, shovel-ready projects, Richard Bouts of BLM's energy policy team says applicants from across the board will be thankful. BLM currently has more than 150 land-use plans across the country…Developers that had projects in the pipeline without much progress would now have a much clearer idea of how those projects should move forward…[U]ntil now, the EIS has been a learn-as-you-go process for many developers…[A]t times regulators came back with problems that few could have forecast…

"It is debatable as to whether this new process will make federal land more attractive than private land for development. It is certainly more simple to deal with a private land owner than the government and all its regulatory requirements…BLM's goal has always been to develop a PEIS that is in line with land and environmental law, yet doesn't push public land prices too far from what the market will bear…"

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"It is not clear yet if the PEIS will favor the growth of certain technologies in CSP. Regulation already in play in California has favored dry cooling. Analysts find it unlikely, at least in this very early stage, that specific technologies will be given the upper hand…

"A total of 34 projects have been placed on BLM's fast track, with 14 being solar-related and the vast majority in California. The fast-track projects were chosen because it's believed they can jump through the necessary hoops and be permitted before the December deadline for stimulus bill grants."