Interesting article in the Wall Street Journal last week about the struggles of California to get solar projects through the permit process. Apparently Brightsource, who has contracted with PG&E, is in year two of the permit process to build a massive solar plant in the desert.
I understand there are issues..like the fact that the field will be the size approaching the mass of Rhode Island..and this in a very fragile desert environment. It is a delicate balancing act but the alternatives could be worse. A coal fired plant where the dam breaks from the scrubbing operations and leaches billions of gallons of toxic waste water? A nuclear plant with radioactive waste (of course it is a quick trip over to the Nevada storage site from there)?
C'mon CA get your act together. This will supply enough energy for 500,000+ homes. Either you are on board or not with these alternative solutions...though heading in to my dream state...wouldn't it be cool if the smart grid was in place and we could put solar panels on 500,000 homes that are already in the desert...nah, it would probably take California 5 years to approve that.
Article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20091013-714592.html
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