As the solar energy industry grew with the environmental awareness of the public and governments, the growth rate of 2010 matched the previous year’s total annual growth by as early as the end of third quarter.
The U.S. Congress set a target for Department of the Interior: the number of approved GW projects on nation-owned land properties to be no less than 10 by 2015.
Though Bureau of Land Management released land to the public for PV projects in 2005, after examining application records and interviewing some governmental officials related to the matter, the Associated Press found that the application process was on a first-come-first-serve basis, immediately bringing a heavy workload to the staff.
The system also caused another problem of not using the allocated land efficiently since some applicants did not actually have PV projects on hand at the time of application.
Increasing the number of approved PV projects is an important mission for the Obama administration. There are 14 fast development projects on nation-owned land properties that Department of the Interior deemed appropriate.
Federal officials predicted that one day solar generated electricity will reach 24 GW, which is sufficient to supply 16 million households the needed electricity during peak hours.
Environmentalists are happy about the government’s efforts in expediting the application process for PV projects to receive approval after studying ten-thousand plus pages of the draft. Department of Energy announced a plan to subsidize maximum 50 million dollars for testing and advanced PV technology.
Yet, Alex Daue of Wilderness Society expressed his concern about the extra land consumption. He stressed that we now have the opportunity to enforce more environmental responsibility in our developments to keep minimal negative impacts. Why don’t we focus on the most promising projects within the smallest possible area?