California utility commits to massive solar buy, B.C. deals with oil spill
Call it the light and dark sides of the energy industry: yesterday, as news spread that a major California utility will make a ginormous solar buy, a British Columbia neighborhood was drenched in crude oil spewing from a broken pipe. Related? Only in the sense that all our global energy interests are tied. But holy visual metaphor, Batman! While officials in Burnaby, B.C., struggled to clean up the mess -- which led to the evacuation of 20 homes, the "voluntary evacuation" of 80 more, and residents complaining of headaches and nausea -- Pacific Gas & Electric execs polished their own image with a pledge to buy 550 megawatts of solar power generated by the world's largest thermal solar array. The planned Mojave Desert facility -- which will use mirrors to focus the sun's rays on pipes containing fluid that will then produce steam that powers turbines, whew -- will start making energy by 2011 or 2012, and is, says PG&E VP for Energy Procurement Fong Wan, "one of the most promising technologies for us."
source: The New York Times, Felicity Barringer and Matthew L. Wald, 25 Jul 2007
source: The Vancouver Sun, Derrick Penner and Kelly Sinoski, 24 Jul 2007
see also, in Gristmill: PG&E to buy 550 MW of concentrated solar from world’s largest CS plant
Why buying cheap energy certificates worsens climate change
Obama headed to Copenhagen, sets the bar for success
Comments
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Carol9 Posted 4:10 am
25 Jul 2007
Thanks, Carol
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newbattleaxe Posted 5:10 am
25 Jul 2007
Another point: how much land does this "world's largest solar array" cover? What sort of habitatdid it cover up? What sort of habitat is under it now?
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