Federal approval for 110MW solar power tower in Nevada
brighterenergy.org -- December 21, 2010
The federal government has approved a 110-megawatt solar power plant planned for a site near Tonopah, southern Nevada.
US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar signed off a Record of Decision yesterday for the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, being developed by California-based developer SolarReserve.
[SolarReserve is to use solar thermal technology developed in the US by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne]
Utility aims to salt away solar power
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, By JENNIFER ROBISON -- Dec. 22, 2009
The sun already shines year-round in Nevada.
Now, a California company says it has found a way to harness sunlight around the clock as well, and Nevadans soon could see the resulting solar energy powering their homes.
NV Energy was scheduled to announce today a 25-year agreement to buy power from the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, a plant that SolarReserve plans to build on federal land outside Tonopah, about 175 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Crescent Dunes will be the nation’s first commercial solar power plant using salt storage to distribute energy after the sun sets, and it will be the second-largest renewable-power source in NV Energy’s fuel portfolio. The power plant will yield enough juice to power 75,000 homes during peak electric use.
[...]
[Ken] Smith said Monday that the Air Force has signed off on the project and sent a letter to the BLM approving Crescent Dunes’ location.
Smith said BLM approval has been fast-tracked, with construction of Crescent Dunes set to start by the end of 2010.
Construction should take about two years, and would create 450 construction jobs and up to 4,000 jobs for local suppliers. Crescent Dunes would generate sales and property tax revenue of more than $40 million over the 25-year deal’s period, SolarReserve officials said. It would employ a permanent staff of 45.
Finally America is breaking new ground in the search for truly Free, Clean, Renewable Energy -- using American ingenuity, and American Labor.
It's about freaking time!
Huh? What!?
The GOP -- the "Jobs Party" want to put an Axe to the Project?
WHY?
The "Jobs Party" says NO! to Jobs.
Incredible!
Undercutting the future
Republican plan to end federal program would hurt Nevada and the nation
Las Vegas Sun, Editorial -- March 7, 2011
The [Crescent Dunes Solar Energy] plant would be a boon to Nevada, creating 600 jobs on-site, and it would be a great source of renewable energy.
The Obama administration pledged to give plant developer SolarReserve loan guarantees this year to get the project off the ground. But, as Karoun Demirjian reported in Thursday’s Las Vegas Sun, the project may not get the guarantees because House Republicans recently voted to ax the loan guarantee program.
Why?
Republicans don’t like it because it involves renewable energy, which they apparently find detestable, and because the program was born out of the stimulus bill, which they pledged to kill.
Once again Republicans have let their blind ideology trump what’s good for the nation.
America needs to be developing renewable energy sources as part of its plan to become energy independent. But the young renewable energy industry needs a kick start, and the federal government’s program is a good way to do that. Energy projects have been able to leverage the loan guarantees for hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment, which will create both short- and long-term jobs.
Incredible.
The GOP has no problem giving away Billions in Tax Breaks and Subsidies to "traditional" forms of Energy, like Oil and Coal and Nuclear.
But when it comes to finding "smart ways" to break our "Addiction" to these very Problematic "traditional" sources of Energy
-- they (the GOP) doesn't what to have anything to do with it!
(to spite Obama, no doubt.)
It's Not like SolarReserve wants Charity -- they just need the "Loan Guarantees" they've already been promised.
Utility aims to salt away solar power
SolarReserve has raised $140 million in venture capital from several private-equity firms. The company did not disclose how much Crescent Dunes will cost to build.
WHY are there ALWAYS Political "Road Blocks" standing in the way of Progress ... in the way of Renewable Energy ... in the way of American Jobs ...
Undercutting the future
The Tonopah project lies in Republican Rep. Dean Heller’s district, and Heller’s spokesman said the congressman supports the project but wouldn’t exactly endorse the loan guarantee program, saying it is “necessary to evaluate what the best role for the federal government is in encouraging growth in this industry.”
That is a shame. This program is, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “exactly the kind of public-private partnership that Nevada and the nation need to help us lead the world in clean energy jobs.”
Heller and Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., should be doing all they can to push their caucus to support the loan guarantee program. It is essential for Nevada to develop its abundant sources of renewable energy and diversify its economy.
This really is No way to run a Country -- giving out Business "Loan Guarantees" one year -- and taking them away in the next. (Kind of makes a mockery of the term "Guarantee" ...)
When are we, as a Country, going to form a viable National Energy Policy?
When are we going to make the transition to Clean Abundant Energy -- that someday we will be Forced to make?
When are we going to start that Apollo Energy Project -- that everyone talks about, but nobody plans for?
Letting the ground-breaking Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project actually START cranking out those MegaWatts -- AROUND THE CLOCK -- would be a good place to start ... "Turning that Page" ...
The 'Big Knock' against Solar is that the "Sun don't shine at Nite" -- Well here's a chance to remove that "Technical" Road Block --
WHAT? are we going to "pull a Reagan" -- and let another 30 Years pass us by? With little to no Renewable Progress?
Like I said -- Incredible!
Interior Approves Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project in Nevada
January 16, 2011 by Megan Hahn, myecoproject.org
[CSP uses mirror fields to focus solar energy on a tower receiver near the center of the array of mirrors. Steam from boilers in the tower drives a turbine, generating electricity for the transmission grid]
President Obama, I heard you are looking for ways to "rile-up your base"?
Here's an Idea. Push through about a dozen Projects like this -- THAT would rile-up your base!
MAKE IT Happen, Fight for it. America seriously needs to Get Serious about this -- NOW!
Call the GOP Bluff -- on all these "Penny-wise Pound-foolish" Budget Cuts ... Sir.
The People will Thank you for taking such a stand.
There is no shortage of such Projects -- that could use a little Shepherding ...
Now that the Wolves are back on the range.
Solar Zones on the US Energy Drawing Boards