A storm is brewing
Several decisions made by multiple levels of the US government these past few weeks have me seriously questioning the administration’s resolve to support renewable energies (specifically solar). My personal bias is that I am completely infatuated with the idea of “fields” of solar arrays covering large swaths of arid, infertile, desolate land, soaking up wasted photons in an inhospitable environment with negligible NIMBYist opposition.
That said, certain government decisions these days clearly suggest this dream isn’t shared by all (or those who lobby those representing “all.”)
Last week, the Telegraph had a much dugg story that the government was putting a hold on new solar projects on public land for two years, so that it could study the environmental impact of solar energy plants.
[Brad Collins, executive director of the American Solar Energy Society] said the review appeared to be an arbitrary “road block” that contradicted “the stated goals of both presidential candidates, the stated goals of Congress and the American public.” The Bureau of Land Management, which looks after 258 million acres of federal land, much of it flat, sun-baked terrain in the western US considered ideal for solar energy development, says the study is required by law and backed by environmental groups.
Thankfully, due in part to the tremendous outcry of opposition to this decision, the moratorium was overturned shortly thereafter. That Senate majority leader Harry Reid’s home state of Nevada is one of the prime sites for development and Nevada is 85% federal land, surely didn’t hurt. Yet, with over 130 applications received since 2005, there still hasn’t been a single project approved for public land. A siege mentality, or a severely under-resourced bureaucratic office, isn’t an unusual ploy to delay inconvenient initiatives threatening to unseat incumbent industrial powerhouses.
Mind you, that’s in addition to congress being at loggerheads over investment tax credits for renewables. Yes, it’s a subsidy that creates an artificial market distortion. Find me a traditional energy source that isn’t subsidized, and I’ll leave it alone.
Hopefully these grey skies are gonna clear up, and sunny days are just around the corner.
For further reading, check out the just released Economist special report on the Future of Energy.
Kevin currently manages initial client engagements with the MaRS Venture Group. He also administers a federal fund that provides mentorship to start-up companies across Ontario.
