400 MW Ivanpah Solar Project Draft EIS Released
Report Charts Path for U.S. Offshore Wind Development
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400 MW Ivanpah Solar Project Draft Released
The U.S. Department of the Interior and the California Energy Commission (CEC) completed a joint draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System Project. The project, to be located on 4,000 acres of federal land in Southern California's Ivanpah Valley, will draw on solar tower technology to generate 400 MW of electricity.
Proposed by BrightSource Energy Inc., the Ivanpah project will be built in three phases, two 100 MW plants followed by a 200 MW plant. According to the CEC Web page for the project, each 100 MW plant will use three towers to deliver steam to a central plant, which will also have its own power tower. The 200 MW plant will have four power towers around a central plant.
The project would be located on land managed by Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and will provide power to the PG&E and Southern California Edison. A BLM notice that the draft EIS is ready for public review was published in the Federal Register on November 10. The draft EIS also includes a Final Staff Assessment by the CEC, which will lead to an evidentiary hearing by the CEC in mid-December. See the CEC press release, the BrightSource Energy Web site, the BLM's Federal Register notice, and the full FSA and draft EIS.
The Interior Department also announced that five other renewable energy projects in California are on a fast-track review schedule and are poised to begin environmental review. Four of these are solar projects and one is a wind farm, and all are located on BLM lands.
The Daggett Ridge Wind Farm, near Barstow, is an 82.5 MW project proposed by AES. The four solar projects all employ solar troughs: a 250 MW Genesis Solar Energy Project and three proposals from Solar Millenium LLC: the 484 MW Palen Solar Power Project, the 968 MW Blythe Solar Power Project, and the 250 MW Ridgecrest Solar Power Project.
The first three projects are located in the Sonoran Desert near Blythe, about 200 miles east of Los Angeles, while the Ridgecrest project is located about 120 miles north of Los Angeles. The projects are on a fast track because they are advanced enough in the permitting process that they could potentially be cleared for approval by December 2010, thus making them eligible for economic stimulus funding. See the Interior Department press release.
Report Charts Path for U.S. Offshore Wind Power Development
A new report calls for coordinated activities among government agencies, universities, and businesses to develop offshore wind power in the US. The U.S. Offshore Wind Collaborative (USOWC) released "U.S. Offshore Wind Energy: A Path Forward" in late October as a call to action.
Citing a DOE finding that the US possesses the potential for 900,000 MW of electricity from offshore wind resources, the report lays out specific areas needed to make it a reality. Among the recommendations: better collaboration among government entities, universities, businesses, and stakeholders in wind development; creation of a Web-based information clearinghouse; convening meetings among states with common interests in offshore wind, as well as between the US and European counterparts; and providing leadership to build public trust and investor confidence in offshore wind potential. The report and OSOWC Web site also provide an overview of offshore wind power activities throughout the US. See the USOWC Web site and report (PDF 619 KB).
