Here’s the big risk for utilities trying to meet California’s renewable portfolio standard, which calls for utilities to deliver 20 percent of their electricity from clean power by the end of 2010 and 33 percent by 2020: The clean power projects sometimes fall through. This week, various news sources (New York Times, Business Journal) are reporting that Portuguese solar project developer Martifer Renewables has canceled a project that would have sold 106.8 MW of solar power to utility PG&E.
Back in the summer of 2008, Martifer’s plans to build two 53.4 megawatt hybrid solar thermal and biofuel power plants near Coalinga, in the center of California, were met with great fanfare. The plants were supposed to start operation in 2011 and provide solar clean power for close to 75,000 homes in the area. Martifer’s hybrid solar thermal biofuel plants would be able to provide 24/7 power, by burning biofuel at night. Other companies, like eSolar and Suntrough, are working on similar technology.
Well, according to the New York Times, it was the biomass part of the plan causing problems with the neighbors of the project. The plants would take 450,000 tons a year of agricultural waste from the surrounding 70 miles, which could have brought in dozens of trucks per day hauling the vegetation. The area has poor air quality and some residents didn’t want it to get worse.
The biomass hauling traffic issue is one I hadn’t considered before, and will be a lesson for solar developers building similar hybrid plants around the world. It’s also just the latest problem for solar developers in California, adding to a long list of hurdles that includes endangered species, water issues, transmission lines and various other NIMBY-concerns.
The endless problems with developing utility-scale solar projects in California’s deserts is another reason PG&E and other utilities have been trying to get more creative and aggressive when it comes to financing clean power projects. PG&E has created tax equity funds with solar companies SunRun and SolarCity, and has said it wants to invest in and own its own solar plants.
Martifer isn’t the only developer to pull the plug on a project that was under contract with a utility. Back in early 2008, Western GeoPower canceled a contract with PG&E whereby the utility would have purchased renewable energy from a geyser-fueled geothermal power plant located about 75 miles north of San Francisco. OptiSolar also sold its massive solar project and PG&E contract to thin film solar darling First Solar, who still plans to complete the project.
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