Build mega solar fields in the desert? Not so fast

By Money Matters Editors

You knew solar energy could not be the no-doubt-about-it superenergy form of the 21st century – at least not at the start.

The solar panel now has a few ‘cracks’ in it, as a result of a new environmental concern about destroyed or impacted vistas – basically sight pollution, but also pollution that physically harms the environment.

U.S Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-California) stated opposition to building in the Mojave Desert has effectively scuttled 13 big solar energy plants and wind projects there, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

The desert is home to countless forms of wildlife and rare species, and Feinstein does not those habitats disturbed. Her threat of legislation banning those projects was more than enough to convince developers to consider other sites.

Hence, the solar energy movement is encountering the same type of political resistance as the wind power movement has encountered: residents and environmental activists concerned about the inappropriate use of cherished land. For example, Cape Cod in Massachusetts is a strong candidate for wind mills, based on average wind speeds: it’s a horrible candidate, from an environmental standpoint, as building wind mills there would blight some of the most breath-taking vistas on the Atlantic seaboard.

Solar power is also running into the impediment of competing claims: solar power companies may see a site as ideal for collection of the sun’s energy, but another company may see the land as ideal for some other business purpose –  for mining or for even for residential subdivision, etc.

For now, Sen. Feinstein wants solar power companies to concentrate on land that’s already been used – farm land for example – as sites for solar panel fields. The desert will be spared, if she has her say. And she has a lot of say.

And as much as Money Matters Editors believe U.S. solar energy must be harnessed, Sen. Feinstein has a point: we must harness the sun’s energy in the least-obtrusive, least-environmentally-blighting way possible.