星期四, 3 4 月, 2025
Home PV Companies Disputed Solar Energy Project in California Desert Is Dropped

Disputed Solar Energy Project in California Desert Is Dropped

A proposed solar energy project in the California desert that caused intense friction between environmentalists and the developers of renewable energy has been shelved.


BrightSource Energy Inc. had planned a 5,130-acre solar power farm in a remote part of the Mojave Desert, on land previously intended for conservation. The company, based in Oakland, Calif., said Thursday that it was instead seeking an alternative site for the project.


The Wildlands Conservancy, a California environmental group, had tried to block the solar development, as had Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, who proposed that the area become a national monument.


The land was donated by Wildlands to the Interior Department during the Clinton administration, with assurances from President Bill Clinton himself, the group says, that it would be protected in perpetuity. But the Energy Policy Act of 2005, a Bush administration initiative, opened the land to the development of solar projects.


“We salute BrightSource for their responsible behavior,” said David Myers, executive director of Wildlands. “A major conflict between the environment and renewable energy is over.”


The plant would have been “at the heart of a signature valley” filled with bighorn sheep and other natural treasures, said Mr. Myers, who added that he hoped BrightSource would now find a “more appropriate site.”


Representatives of the company did not return calls for comment.


BrightSource, a high-profile company with investors like Google and advisers like the environmental campaigner Robert F. Kennedy Jr., builds large-scale, sophisticated solar plants in the United States, Israel and Australia. It is developing more than four gigawatts of solar power in the southwestern United States, according to its Web site.


The company uses a technique in which hundreds of small mirrors redirect desert sunlight onto a single central tower, where the heat generates steam.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

- Advertisment -

Most Popular

Ningbo Deye Will Invests 16GWh Energy Storage

Ningbo Deye Technology Group’s subsidiary locked in a pact to build a colossal energy storage facility, not only boosting its stock value but also...

Trump tariffs on solar panels to spur Chinese investment in the US

Chinese companies are likely to increase their production of solar panels in the US to mitigate any fallout from possible higher tariffs on their...

How U.S. tariffs could affect solar imports

On Feb. 1, the United States announced a 25% tariff on Mexican goods and non-oil and gas imports from Canada. Canadian oil and gas...

Solar power to energize European football, UEFA teaming up with SolarPower Europe

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and SolarPower Europe have partnered to advance sustainability in European football through solar energy. The collaboration focuses on...