National Parks Concerned
Over Nevada Solar Power Plants

Nevada: Nothing comes without a cost, not even solar electricity from sunshine. That seems to be the message from the Regional Director, Pacific West Region, of the National Park Service (NPS) in a letter to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for the Nevada Region.

Obscure Problems?

One does not usually associate environmental damage and pollution with solar power stations. The image that most of us have of these projects is of gleaming panels or mirrors, with silent and clean electricity pumping out of them. However, things are rarely this simple and solar energy is no exception.

Security Issues and Wildlife

Any large scale infrastructure development needs to be secured. This requires fencing and security lighting. The lighting can illuminate the surrounding areas which is well known to disrupt the behavior of many species of nocturnal wildlife.

Fencing is needed to keep out wild animals and people who would damage the equipment. Unfortunately, fencing also disrupts the movements of wild animals. This can have a significant impact on species that roam widely to forage for food as is the case with a lot of desert animals.

Access to Water

While deserts may be ideal places for harvesting sunshine, they also tend to have limited water resources. This is certainly true of the Nevada region where many large scale solar projects are to be undertaken.

A solar power plant that uses concentrated sunlight requires water. The water is turned into steam using the energy harnessed by the mirrors, and it is that steam that drives the turbines to generate this electricity. Unfortunately much of this water is lost to the atmosphere and so a continuous supply of fresh water is needed to operate the plant. This is not an issue with photovoltaic solar panels, as they convert solar energy directly into electricity.

Tough Decisions

As Governor Schwarzenegger said in relation to one endangered species in the region that may be affected by these developments, "What they have here is a case of environmental regulations holding up environmental progress. I don't know whether this is ironic or absurd. But, I mean, if we cannot put solar power plants in the Mojave Desert, I don't know where the hell we can put it."

It is impossible to please everybody. If we are to use solar instead of oil, some sacrifices will have to be made. The sooner we accept that and get on with it, the better all our chances are of a living in a cleaner world.

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