California would become the Saudi Arabia of solar energy if a slew of large-scale solar power plants proposed for the sun-drenched Mojave Desert are built. The federal Bureau of Land Management has received right-of-way requests on 300,000 acres for 34 Big Solar power stations that would generate more than 24 gigawatts of green energy. That disclosure was made in a development application that BrightSource Energy has filed with the California Energy Commission to build a 400-megawatt solar power station complex in the Mojave just across from the Nevada. It’s unlikely, though, that anywhere close to that number of solar power plants will be built in the near future. Still, it’s an indication of the land rush that’s on as solar entrepreneurs start to lock up the best sites. So far, Southern California Edison (EIX) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SRE) have contracted for up to 1.75 gigawatts with Stirling Energy Systems of Phoenix. PG&E (PCG), meanwhile, is negotiating with BrightSource to provide 500 megawatts of solar electricity and has signed a contract for 553 megawatts more with Israeli solar power company Solel. All the projects would be built in or near the Mojave.
California’s Solar Land Rush
September 14, 2007 by Todd Woody
Green Wombat 
Now imagine if we could plaster the Saudi Arabian deserts with solar power plants? And if electricity could travel around the world like data on the Internet. Yes, I’m dreaming.
Now imagine if we could plaster the Saudi Arabian deserts with solar power plants? And if electricity could travel around the world like data on the Internet. Yes, I’m dreaming.
Yeah, great idea anonymous! Then we would be in the same boat we are in now with the oil. Tell me you were joking…
You are both short on intelligence and an understanding of economics. Dreamers are those that make things happened. “Plastering the deserts of Saudi Arabia” and buying power from them wouldn’t be a bad idea considering their main GDP is made up of energy. Having a functional global economy will always be the best type of foreign policy although I would agree that it is time for the US to become independent it has little chance of happening in the near future.
A desert isn’t the ideal place for solar photo voltaic, as efficiency goes down with temperature. A bright sunny but cool place is ideal. I assume this is a solar chimney based on the picture?
Transmitting power under the sea bed is possible but pretty expensive.
The US doesn’t lack land with good solar insolation by any means. Parking garages and building roofs would provide a large amount of power, not to mention all the residential roofs if we’re talking photo voltaic.
No, dreaming would be enough solar power to put the Saudis out of business and make them powerless…
“Putting the Saudis out of business”? That is already happening – if you care to look. The oil being pumped from their two big oil fields needs waters pumped down into those fields to raise the pressure such that oil and water flows up to the top. This is an indication that the field(s) are slowly being drained, and their life expectancy is somewhere in the vicinity of 20-25 years. As it becomes necessary to pump ever increasing amounts of water to keep the pressure up, their economic and political power will slowly fade. There are no replacement oil fields for the Saudis once these are drained. SO just wait . . . their day is coming and they know it.
Ok dude commenter. The entire world including Saudi Arabia needs electricity, not just the U.S. Saudi Arabia happens to have a huge desert, good for solar thermal power plants. And making use of that does not imply not using our own deserts or other deserts around the world, especially as we already are using and planning to use our own deserts for solar thermal power plants. Hence the Internet analogy. Even in the assumption of the “same boat”, it would be a different boat which is at least better for the environment.
But the main point was that they just have a humongous desert. And I thought it was funny that California could be “the Saudi Arabia of solar energy” when Saudi Arabia could be the Saudi Arabia of solar energy.
And other commenters, what’s the point of wanting to put people out of business and make them powerless? Hoping that troubled economies brings about world peace, makes us richer, or even provides more electricity?
Consider this:
Solar-powered hydrolysis plant located in Saudi Arabia brings liquified hydrogen at low-er cost than stateside.
Sure, there are shipping costs. Certainly, there are safety issues. Of course, we don’t trust people in funny robes.
What’s gained? The hydrogen-based economy we all want to get to…one step closer. Derived from free solar energy, and the bonus is more stability in the region.
So what if energy comes from the middle east? The reason it is so unstable as a region is the lack of employment, education, and general opportunity…not extremism. Thousands of bored men in an oil-sogged society is the real problem, Muslim or otherwise.
Solar, coupled to electrolysis, can provide an interim step…until efficiencies of scale can be reached in the more “temperate” parts of the world. Baby steps, people. Think of it that way.
I have been reading many of the posts on this story with a mixture of amusement and bewilderment. I know we are never going to “plaster” Saudi Arabia with solar but some of the comments do bring up some interesting questions.
I guess my first one is why should we ever let another country control our energy needs if we don’t have to? As far as a functioning “global” economy, we already have one with the region and most of the money is headed the wrong way. I am sorry but does anyone really believe we would be in a war in Iraq now if it was not sitting on a huge portion of the worlds oil supply?
Oh and how is this for global economics? The more we have to spend keeping troops in the Middle East, the more money we have to borrow. (Often from some of the same people who sold us the oil in the first place.) The more money we borrow the weaker our dollar becomes. The weaker our dollar becomes the more the price of oil goes up because oil is priced in dollars. Oh and just for fun you can google what would happen to our economy if they stop pricing oil in dollars, as Iran wants to do.
I don’t know but it seems to me we need to start spending some serious time and money on fixing our energy situation. From an economic and defense point I consider it one of our most pressing issues right now.
The desert IS the best place for solar energy. Research it. You will find that there’s 2 sources for solar energy. The first is photovoltaic, which aborbs the suns rays like solar cells on a calculator or a solar system for your home. Thens there’s solar thermal energy. Solar thermal uses mirrors to reflect the sun’s rays onto a receiver that heats a liquid, turning it into steam which ultimately will turn a turbin to create electricity. Obviously, when trying to create heat, a warmer climate would work best. The mojave is a great place for this since it is extremely hot in peak months and has little or no rain fall during the year.
I was reading this article to see if I could glean some info on which companys would be a good investment for profiting on solar. I’ve been making a killing on fertilizer stocks (MOS,POt) based on the ethonal craze, anyone got any ideas?
For those who thought that my comment about “plastering” Saudi Arabia with solar power plants and making the electric grid like the Internet was silly, this is an interesting article:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/11/12/eco.about.csp/
On Ausra’s claim that the U.S. electricity demand could be supplied with a 92 by 92 mile solar thermal power plant,
“Over in Europe, however, a group of scientists, politicians and renewable energy experts who call themselves The Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) have made claims on a much bigger scale and with far bigger ramifications.
TREC is backing an ambitious project straddling Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (EU-MENA), which is based on the calculation that an area less than 0.3% of the Sahara Desert filled with CSP plants could power the entire region — and could slash the EU’s electricity-generated greenhouse gas emissions by 70% in the process.
The CSP-generated electricity would be transmitted around the region via a ‘supergrid’ of high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines. The CSP plants, TREC says, would ‘generate enough electricity and desalinated seawater to supply current demands in EU-MENA, and anticipated increases in those demands in the future.'”
The TREC also has an interesting Web site:
http://www.trecers.net