The U.S. Department of Energy has just agreed to guarantee the loan for Abengoa Solar to start construction of the Solana CSP Project, announced in 2007. The decision marks the culmination of a lengthy environmental assessment with 286 pages of referenced impact statements, covering every possible reason to obstruct Abengoa’s Solana – Spanish for a sunny place – CSP Project.
Not all energy suppliers speed through environmental reviews in under 90 days like off-shore oil projects in the Gulf of Mexico apparently do. Dangerous, “risky!” solar projects are “energy gambles” that needs must take at least two years to review. No rubber stamp for energy sources that might compete with the mighty fossil industry.
Abengoa can now begin to build the 280 MW concentrating solar power plant near Gila Bend, Arizona, and an associated 230 kilovolt transmission line. (more…)