Feds fail to use land for solar power Pt. 2

Note: This is the second in a three-part series. See Tuesday’s Daily Press for part three.

ROACH DRY LAKE, Nev. (AP) — The Bureau of Land Management’s solar leasing system has ended up allowing developers to lay claim to prime sites — many located in the deserts that span California, Nevada and Arizona. All developers had to do was fill out an application, pay a fee and file development plans.

But many were so vague that it was difficult for BLM to separate the serious projects from the speculative ones.

“People were making (solar) applications on federal lands not knowing what kind of technology to propose and ... how to develop the land,” said Ray Brady, BLM’s head of energy policy in Washington.

In the Southern California desert near Palm Springs, for example, San Diego-based LightSource Renewables filed an application in August 2008 for 2,500 acres, BLM records show. The small, two-person development firm knew enough to recognize the land’s worth — it was close to transmission lines — but had no previous experience with such projects.

Co-founder Paul Whitworth said it is now focusing on getting private land, and is not pursuing plans for its BLM site. The agency, however, still considers the application active, meaning other interested firms cannot access it.

“We don’t know what technology will win or lose, and certain sites cater to certain technologies, but a good site is a good site,” Whitworth said when asked why they filed their application. The firm has never filed a development plan, records show.

While dozens of smaller firms like Lightsource joined in the rush, BLM records show two Goldman Sachs & Co. subsidiaries filed 52 of the 354 applications throughout the region, more than any other company.

“Those 52 applications are an example of the problem of clogging up the system,” said V. John White, executive director the Sacramento-based Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, a clean-energy advocacy group, in an e-mail. The system has limited access by experienced solar developers to the best sites.

“Some of these lease applications tied up more land than would be needed for a real project,” he said.

For example, records show Goldman-owned Cogentrix Solar Services, LLC, the subsidiary with no previous solar experience, has a pending application for 13,440 acres in Nevada for a 1,400-megawatt solar plant. Another claim on land nearby asks for 22,400 acres for the exact, same-sized plant.

BLM records show other companies proposing the same type of solar plants were asking for 6,000-7,000 acres.

Over the years, BLM rejected applications or companies withdrew them, bringing the total active applications to 123.

Some of Goldman’s California applications were withdrawn after U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein proposed last year that part of the Mojave Desert where some of the projects were proposed be declared a national monument. Now Goldman holds 10 of the 123, including eight that cover nearly half the land proposed for solar in Nevada.

An AP review of BLM’s applications database found Cogentrix has staked more development claims in the Southwestern deserts than any other company. In Nevada alone, Cogentrix has applied for exclusive development rights on nearly as much federal land as all other companies combined. Its active lease applications cover about 120,000 acres — the equivalent of more than eight Manhattans.

“Goldman Sachs was one of the first applicants to dot the map with potential projects, and since then they haven’t moved on any of them,” said Gregory Helseth, the BLM’s new renewable energy project manager in southern Nevada. “You can’t hold the land forever. You can’t be a prospector and hope somebody down the road wants to buy.”

A Goldman representative defended the firm’s solar investments, saying the Wall Street titan has since gained experience through its 2009 purchase of an aged solar facility in San Bernardino County, that it was moving forward in good faith and was not blocking anyone.

“While we continue to pursue development of projects utilizing public lands in the Southwest, we have not held land reservations if they are determined not to be viable for future solar development,” company spokesman Ed Canaday said in an e-mail.