Environment Texas Report: Large-Scale Solar Power Plants Could Power Nation, Combat Global Warming and Create Thousands of Jobs

4,000 Megawatts of Solar Power Under Development Threatened by Lapsing Federal Tax Incentives

AUSTIN – Texas could generate as much as 148,000 megawatts of electricity or more than twice our current use from solar power plants; according to a report released today, “On the Rise: Solar Thermal Power and the Fight Against Global Warming” by Environment Texas. These solar thermal power plants covering an area of 30 x 30-mile area in west Texas, could power the entire state; while slashing global warming emissions.  Because solar thermal energy storage allows electric generating capacity even when the sun is not shining, it can replace traditional energy sources like coal, natural gas and nuclear power.

“Solar thermal power is ready for primetime,” said Luke Metzger, Director of Environment Texas. “With support from policymakers, Texas could quickly get much of its energy from this abundant and clean domestic energy source at prices competitive with new nuclear or ‘clean coal’ power plants. If we are going to get serious about fighting global warming and addressing our nation’s energy woes, solar energy must be part of the solution.”

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has identified the potential for more than 7,000 gigawatts (GW) of concentrating solar power generation on lands in the southwestern United States alone – more than six times current U.S. electricity consumption.  Other areas of theUnited States, such as the mountain West, the Great Plains and Florida, can also generate significant power from the sun.

Concentrating solar power development has accelerated dramatically since the beginning of 2007. More than 4,000 MW of solar thermal projects are in some phase of development nationwide and could be completed by 2012. However, solar energy tax credits that are helping make these projects cost-effective are set to expire at the end of the year, putting their future in doubt.

“Federal clean energy tax incentives are spurring investment, creating thousands of “green-collar” jobs, and helping reduce global warming pollution,” said Russel Smith, Executive Director of the Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association. “If Congress lets them expire, clean energy projects will be severely curtailed.”

Concentrating solar power plants are increasingly cost-competitive with other power generation technologies that do not produce carbon dioxide, the main global warming pollutant. The cost of energy from solar thermal power plants is estimated to be competitive in cost with theoretical coal-fired power plants that capture and store their carbon dioxide emissions and with new nuclear power plants.

The report concludes that with leadership at the state and federal level and the right policies, that, putting 80 gigawatts, enough to power 25 million homes, of concentrated solar power in place by 2030 is within reach.  This would have the potential to generate between 75,000 and 140,000 permanent jobs and cut global warming pollution from U.S. electric power plants by at least 6.6 percent by the year 2030.

 One critical policy currently under review by the Public Utilities Commission is the construction of new transmission lines to areas with the best wind and solar resources.“Transmission lines are the key to unlocking the door to vast wind and solar energy use in Texas” said Mike Sloan, President of Virtus Energy.  Solar and wind power are natural partners to share new transmission lines to serve sunny and windy West Texas.   Adds Sloan, “New power lines that Texas is looking to build to support major new wind regions will serve as the same highways to carry clean West Texas solar power to customers throughout the state.” 

Electricity generation accounts for more than a third of America’s emissions of global warming pollution. “Concentrating solar power can make a large contribution toward reducing global warming pollution in the United States, and do so quickly and at a reasonable cost,” said Metzger. “The Legislature should jump on this economic and environmental opportunity and work to make Texas a world solar leader.”

“Texas’ combination of land, wind, and solar resources positions Texas to profit from a fleet of solar thermal power plants up and running within the next five years, helping to stabilize Texas energy prices while meeting Texas’ growing need for peak power to grow the state economy,” said John O’Donnell, Vice President of Ausra, Inc, a global corporation which develops utility-scale solar thermal power technology.