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Solar energy developers say red tape is slowing their projects
Large-scale solar energy developers on Friday asked a panel of state and federal officials to speed up environmental reviews so their projects can move forward in time to qualify for federal subsidies.
Representatives of five energy development companies, speaking at a public meeting in Sacramento, said they are dealing with several agencies on issues such as wildlife habitat, groundwater and potential damage to archaeological sites.
Delays caused by red tape could jeopardize their projects, they said. They need state and federal approvals by this fall in order to meet a Dec. 1 deadline to qualify as "shovel ready," a requirement for federal economic stimulus dollars.
The discussion before the interagency Renewable Energy Policy Group came as California utilities face a state mandate to supply 20 percent of their customers' power needs with renewable energy this year and 33 percent by 2020…. wildlife officials are looking at establishing a land acquisition fund that energy developers could fund to meet their habitat compensation requirements.
Companies also complained that they don't know how much they will have to pay to lease public land for their developments. Melissa Jones, executive director of the California Energy Commission, said she has added staff and streamlined operations to more quickly process energy applications. The agency also has given priority to projects that could qualify for stimulus dollars. But she added that the projects are complex and would consume large stretches of undisturbed public land inhabited by threatened and endangered species. "We can't take shortcuts,"….
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Representatives of five energy development companies, speaking at a public meeting in Sacramento, said they are dealing with several agencies on issues such as wildlife habitat, groundwater and potential damage to archaeological sites.
Delays caused by red tape could jeopardize their projects, they said. They need state and federal approvals by this fall in order to meet a Dec. 1 deadline to qualify as "shovel ready," a requirement for federal economic stimulus dollars.
The discussion before the interagency Renewable Energy Policy Group came as California utilities face a state mandate to supply 20 percent of their customers' power needs with renewable energy this year and 33 percent by 2020…. wildlife officials are looking at establishing a land acquisition fund that energy developers could fund to meet their habitat compensation requirements.
Companies also complained that they don't know how much they will have to pay to lease public land for their developments. Melissa Jones, executive director of the California Energy Commission, said she has added staff and streamlined operations to more quickly process energy applications. The agency also has given priority to projects that could qualify for stimulus dollars. But she added that the projects are complex and would consume large stretches of undisturbed public land inhabited by threatened and endangered species. "We can't take shortcuts,"….
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Comment by Carol A. Anderson, MS, MFT on January 26, 2010 at 11:09pm -
Yeah, you should have come Monday to the jobs meeting. They talked about Solar restrictions there too. But my 61 y/o brain can't remember exactly what. I'll check my notes.
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Comment by John Richau on January 29, 2010 at 6:18pm -
Carol, one thing to do remember from the meeting (you were sitting close to me, by the way), is that large scale solar, although a good thing, creates a good amount of short term jobs and a few permanent ones. And because solar is exempt from property tax increases, does little for the local community in terms of property tax revenue. Still, the delays and bottlenecks for large solar projects are unfortunate.
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© 2012 Created by Victor Ramayrat.
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