The Whitehouse has released plans to increase access to public land for solar installations with the hope of encouraging more capacity. 285,000 acres in parts of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah will be made more accessible through easier permit application processes.
Before Obama’s presidency started no solar projects were allowed on public lands in an attempt to preserve their natural state. However, since 2009 the Department of the Interior has approved 17 large scale solar projects on such ground, expected to generate 5,900 MW of power when completed, enough to supply 2 million homes.
It is expected that the new land will enable a further 23,000 MW of solar capacity to be installed, and provide sufficient electricity for nearly 7 million homes.
So the builders of these solar farms rake in huge government subsides, but will they clean up the mess 10-20 years from now when the solar panels stop functioning? I’m guessing no. The cleanup will also be tax payer funded.
Years ago Peter Huber wrote a wonderful piece on the land requirements for solar and solar based energy such as wind. Greens just spout slogans about wind and solar, but they can’t think through the essential element of taping the potential from short wavelengths cooling to long wavelengths.