Exploring the West- Seeking Out Top Places for Solar Energy Projects
July 3, 2009 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis 
Photo courtsy of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
Surveying the West for suitable public lands to build utility-scale solar energy facilities is the latest initiative by the U.S. Department of the Interior in its efforts to move the country in the direction of renewable energy.
The initiative is part of the Obama administration’s New Energy Plan for America, which includes the goal to “ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.”
Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Interior, told a Las Vegas audience on Monday, “This environmentally-sensitive plan will identify appropriate Interior-managed lands that have excellent solar energy potential and limited conflict with wildlife, and other natural resources or land use. The two dozen areas we are evaluating could generate nearly 100,000 megawatts of solar electricity.”
electric, renewable energy, solar power | in electric, renewable energy, solar power