No Energy Free Lunch

If you have never had the opportunity to see a large solar generating plant, then in the pictures below you will see the Acciona Nevada Solar One Power project we have visited several times in the Eldorado valley south of Las Vegas and Boulder City Nevada.  It sits on 400 acres and has a meager capacity of only 64 megawatts. 

                                           

                            The mirrors of  Acciona's Nevada Solar One Power Plant S. of Las Vegas NV.

                                                   That is not a lake you are looking at!!!

 

    By comparison, Hoover Dam not far away on the other side of Boulder City on the Colorado River has

           a  capacity of 2080 megawatts. Most of its power goes to California, Nevada, and Arizona. 

       Unknown photographer.

         

      Hoover Dam on the Colorado River near Las Vegas.  If have you have ever been here and see 

      the  rugged deep canyon this dam fills it is an incredible experience, and monument to man's

      ingenuity and tenacity. But it srtill has it's massive impacts.

                                              Solar One mirrors and power plant.

 It makes me wonder about New York’s plans for solar with it’s weather.  I have seen several others of these types of projects in the California desert as well near Barstow. These projects are in one of the sunniest places in the country, the desert SW. I think NY is kidding itself with a solar renewable scheme. But these industrial solar structures cover a lot of ground, and the ground underneath unlike wind turbines is unusable except for purpose intended to produce power. As such like, industrial wind energy they are not nice little benign power plants as you can see in the pictures.  Also solar plants also require water which is generally a scarce commodity in the desert SW.  Drilling a well in the desert often means several 1000 ft to hit reliable water.  Consider what this solar plant would look like in Cape Vincent.  Hoover Dam is not a benign power source either if you consider the large lake required to power it…Lake Mead and the impact it has on habitat above as well as below the dam.

 The message here is that there is NO free lunch as far as impacts in producing electric power on the scale needed to run our modern society as some renewable companies would like you to believe. Energy production is all trade offs in one form or another.   The trade off for Hoover Dam’s impact is the extremely reliable on demand power, and the water and flood control it provides, and the recreation resource created by Lake Mead.  If you have been to Las Vegas it is obvious where a lot of the power and water from Hoover Dam goes.  Unlike solar and wind there is some tangible reliable lasting product produced for the impacts of the dam.  Similar to the St Lawrence Seaway power projects.

The long white line at the base of the towers is the Acciona Solar One mirrors from a distance.

When you approach Las Vegas and Boulder City from the south on U.S. highway 95 it looks like a huge continuous industrial energy zone that would easily encompass much more than an area the size of Cape Vincent.  It’s call the  Boulder City Energy Resource Zone and is geared toward renewable energy.  It is also crisscrossed with massive power lines heading toward California and Los Angeles also picking up and distributing the solar power. Obama even visited here sometime ago to promote renewable energy.  If we have to make energy choices, let's at least make sure there is a substantial payback for the impacts unlike induistrial wind and solar.

Electric power towers in the massive electric utility corridor south

of Las Vegas taking power from Hoover Dam toward California.

When you see places like the Boudler City Nevada Energy Resource Zone, then it should become more clear why we must have a balance, and create that balance by demanding that some places like Cape Vincent,the 1000 Islands, and Golden Crescent  be left alone to preserve their natual beauty.

When I see places like south of Boulder NV it is why I have absolutely no problem saying no to industrial wind development in Cape Vincent or the region to make sure we preserve the balance.

No compromises, no accomodations. It does not belong here!!!