Endangered Animals Hinder Solar Development

NIPTON, Calif. — Solar power plant developers hoping to expand their operations in to the California desert are finding that endangered species such as the desert tortoise and the bighorn sheep are becoming a major obstacle in project licensing and construction. Approval by the California Energy Commission now necessitates that they hire biologists, buy replacement habitat and relocate vulnerable animals so that they will not be impacted by plant operations.

 

The Commission approved Tessera Solar’s Calico project in Southern California last month but only after it agreed to substantially reduce its operations to avoid relocating 104 tortoises living on the site. And the Commission said it might not license Solar Millenium’s 250-megawatt Ridgecrest power plant because it will adversely affect tortoises and the Mohave ground squirrel.

 

The Commission last month also approved BrightSource’s Ivanpah project, a solar thermal power plant slated to produce 2,610 megawatts of electricity for California, after keeping it in licensing limbo for three years while Brightsource and environmental advocacy groups wrangled over how to reduce its impact on several animal species living on the 3,582-acre site. BrightSource slashed Ivanpah’s acreage by 12 percent and some of its operations by 23 percent to win approval.