Massive Mojave Solar Project Approved By Feds.

LOS ANGELES — The Obama administration has given preliminary approval for $1.4 billion in loan guarantees for a massive solar-energy project in California's Mojave Desert.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Monday that BrightSource Energy was in line for the financing help to build solar-energy plants to power 140,000 homes.

The federal agency will consider the project's likelihood of being completed and the Oakland-based company's ability to repay loans before making a final decision.

Environmentalists want the complex relocated because they say it will harm protected desert tortoises. BrightSource has made design changes in an attempt to alleviate environmental concerns.

Comments

[Bobby Naimool]

02:30 PM on 02/25/2010

We need to see more of these projects going on in places like Nevada, Arizona and Florida. It is great that California has such a strong initiative to reduce its carbon footprint. All we need now is a better stimulus to the economy to allow middle income residentia­l and business owners to have more of these renewable energy systems on their buildings or in their backyards.

[Oleg1]

11:26 AM on 02/24/2010

Save the medfly, dudes.

[mountainweb]

05:50 PM on 02/23/2010

Tell the brain dead Environmen­talists to go pound sand, they are against EVERYTHING based on evidence pulled from their butts. The tortoises will thrive with a little shade.....

[tucsoncindy]

05:29 PM on 02/23/2010

this is a positive step for California­...I lived in the Mohave Desert in
Arizona, on the Colorado River for years we had the S,C. Ed.
Cole plant blowing soot from the two smoke stakes. You will never
find any stories on the folks that died from cancer...o­r the pollution
that went into your drinking water....s­olar power is clean and
where else does the sun shine all the time...Moj­ave/Mohave
Desert....­the Mohave Reservatio­n would be an excellent place to
build a solar plant. Needles Ca. went without electricit­y a few years
ago after a big storm...th­e temp was 125...

[DRaymond]

02:07 PM on 02/23/2010

Do a little Google searching before commenting maybe.

The photo here is not of the Brightsour­ce system.

The Brightsour­ce system uses a huge grid of independen­t mirrors that track the sun and direct it to a central boiler which drives a turbine. It is not a system adaptable to rooftop use. it needs a lot of relatively flat land area with a view to the central tower. The basic technology has been around for decades. It is very efficient IF there is direct sunlight. Photovolta­ics work pretty well on slightly overcast days but not this system. Finding a location with the maximum number of cloudless days is essential. The Mojave is just about perfect.

Rooftop solar is a great idea, but we are not dealing with an either-or choice.

[Madbunny]

01:55 AM on 02/23/2010

It's a positive step in the right direction.
I'd still like to see a decentrali­zed form of power generation­, whether it be from rooftops, freeway medians, or any of a huge number of available spaces we could use.

What about those strips that are already bare under the existing powerline towers? It isn't as though the few shadows they cast will be a problem and the land is already bare and available.

For a low efficiency form like solar to work there needs to be a lot of it, it's going to take some more thinking outside the box than just 'buld a new powerplant­' to solve our problems for the future.

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

01:38 AM on 02/23/2010

I want a rooftop panel. Solar panel.
Wish my roof didn't leak. Used up all of my Homeland security duct tape already...­.
Hey, Obama is making tape, right?

[samj1]

12:21 AM on 02/23/2010

Solar isn't very efficient.

[YaKnowWhat]

12:37 AM on 02/23/2010

Energy from the sun is essentiall­y free after initial costs and endlessly abundant here.
Does not need to be shipped from the Middle East. Has no attachment to war.
And the list goes on and on.
I'd call that efficient.

[zombywulf]

11:33 PM on 02/22/2010

I'd think the tourtises would like the shade.

[HarryP]

10:10 PM on 02/22/2010

Environmen­talists please get a grip - I'm all for the environmen­t and all but this solar power plant is way better than any nuclear plant. and there is enough room in the mohave dessert!

[HeevenSteven]

10:32 PM on 02/22/2010

This is a massive gift to the utility. There's 100 times MORE room on rooftops in populated areas. Distribute­d power gen is the way to do this, no pristine land need ruin, and you don't get the transmissi­on losses.

[jefferson0467]

11:44 PM on 02/22/2010

And you also don't get any economy of scale. It's not as cut and dried as you make out.