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Solar-energy zones over 1,000 swuare miles of public lands in Colorado and finve other Western states will come with incentives for private companies to invest in large-scale renewable-energy projects, federal officials said Thursday.
Colorado has four solar-energy zones, identified in a draft study to be released today. The zones cover almost 21,000 Bureau of Land Management acres in the San Luis Valley, with sites scattered from north of Moffat to San Antonio near the New Mexico state line. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden previously identified the valley as Colorado’s main prime solar-energy territory. Reaction among residents there has been a mix of hopefulness about economic benefits and concerns over impact on lands and vistas.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, flanked by, BLM and Energy Department officials during a teleconference from Washington, D.C., said the plan is a result of comprehensive environmental analysis conducted over the past two years.
Other solar-energy zones are in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. The plan is part of the Obama administration’s framework for fast-tracking renerable-energy development in an environmentally sound manner over the next 20 years, Salazar said.
“This analysis will help renewable-energy companies and federal agencies focus development on areas of our public lands that are best-suited for large-scale solar development … and reduce conflicts and delays at later stares,” Salazar said.
BLM deirector Bob Abbey said the agency will do further site-by-site analyses as private companies propose projects, but the process will be more efficient because of this comprehensive approach.
“We would still entertain applications on areas outside the solar-development zones,” Abbey said. “However, there will be quite a bit of incentive from companies to focus their attention on these zones.”
The government through loan guarantees and tax credits, officials said.
Salazar said thousands of jobs will be created in local communities through construction and maintenance of solar projects.
In Colorado, though, controversy over solar energy has arisen from proposed transmission projects that would bring electricity from the San Luis Valley of consumers.
For example, Xcel Energy and the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association have proposed a $180 million project to carry solar-generated electricity from the valley to Pueblo and the populous Front Range. But the route, which would cross the 171,400-acre Trinchera Ranch, is being challenged by the landowner, hedge-fund billionaire Louis Bancon.
Energy executives say transmission generally is the battleground.
Salazar said the new study doesn’t identify any new transmission corridors, and he acknowledged: “Unless we’re able to get the energy from where it’s produced to where it’s consumed it’s all for naught.”