Environment Florida
Report: Large-Scale Solar Power Plants Could Power Nation, Combat Global
Warming and Create Thousands of Jobs
Over 4,000 Megawatts
of Solar Power Under Development Threatened by Lapsing Federal Tax Incentives
TALLAHASSEE – Just a week after the Florida legislature
passed a wide-ranging energy bill that calls for increased use of renewable
electricity by Florida utilities, a new report, “On the Rise; Solar Thermal Power and the Fight Against Global Warming,”
released by Environment Florida finds that America has the potential to meet
all of its current electricity needs with large central concentrating solar
power plants.
"If we are going to get serious about fighting global
warming and addressing our energy challenges, solar energy must be part of the
solution,” said Holly Binns, Field Director with Environment Florida.
“Tapping this abundant and clean domestic energy source must
be a centerpiece of our energy, environmental and economic policies. A great example of how solar power plants can
play a much bigger role in supplying clean electricity for the SunshineState
is the solar thermal plant near Sarasota
that Florida Power and Light broke ground on recently.”
The report also finds that solar thermal power plants
covering an area of 100 x 100-mile area in the Southwest, slightly more than what’s
already been excavated for strip mining for coal across the country, could
power the entire nation while slashing global warming emissions.
“Because solar thermal energy storage allows electric
generating capacity even when the sun is not shining, it can replace
traditional energy sources like coal, natural gas and nuclear power,” noted
Binns.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has identified the
potential for more than 7,000 gigawatts (GW) of concentrating solar power generation
on lands in the southwestern United States alone - more than six times current U.S.
electricity consumption. Other areas of
the United States, such as Florida, the mountain west, and the Great
Plains can also generate significant power from the sun.
“This report confirms what we in the industry have known for
a long time – that utility-scale concentrating solar power (CSP) has the
potential to provide a clean, reliable energy choice to power America and help
us achieve national energy security in the 21st century,” said Rhone Resch,
president of the Solar Energy Industries Association in Washington, D.C.
“We agree wholeheartedly with the report’s recommendation to
provide the proper incentives to encourage development of CSP plants.
Specifically, it is imperative that Congress follows through on passing a final
bill to provide a multi-year extension of the solar investment tax credit (ITC)
-- a policy with support from over 85 percent of the American public,” Resch
added.
Concentrating solar power development has accelerated
dramatically since the beginning of 2007. More than 4,000 MW of solar thermal
projects are in some phase of development nationwide and could be completed by
2012. However, solar energy tax credits that are helping make these projects
cost-effective are set to expire at the end of the year, putting their future in
doubt.
"Federal clean energy tax incentives are spurring
investment, creating thousands of "green-collar" jobs, and helping reduce
global warming pollution. These tax
incentives work hand in hand with Governor Crist’s plans to create a high-tech,
high-wage clean energy economy in Florida." said Binns. "If Congress
lets them expire, clean energy projects will grind to a halt."
Concentrating
solar power plants are increasingly cost-competitive with other power
generation technologies that do not produce carbon dioxide, the main global
warming pollutant. The cost of energy from solar thermal power plants is
estimated to be competitive in cost with theoretical coal-fired power plants
that capture and store their carbon dioxide emissions and with new nuclear power
plants.
The
report concludes that with leadership at the state and federal level and the
right policies, that putting 80 gigawatts of concentrating solar power, enough
to power 25 million homes, in place by 2030 is within reach. This would have the potential to generate
between 75,000 and 140,000 permanent jobs and cut global warming pollution from
U.S.
electric power plants by at least 6.6 percent by the year 2030.
Electricity generation accounts for more than a third of America's
emissions of global warming pollution. “Concentrating solar power can make a
large contribution toward reducing global warming pollution in the United States,
and do so quickly and at a reasonable cost,” said Binns.
