New Hampshire, USA --
Dusting off its agenda after the weeks-long U.S. government federal
shutdown, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) last week held its
first competitive auction for public lands in designated Solar Energy
Zones (SEZ) in Colorado — but nobody offered to buy.
Back in 2010 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) had identified "solar energy zones" (SEZ) in six western states, and last fall the Western Solar Plan was finalized
into 17 zones spanning nearly 300,000 acres of public land, with
combined resources approaching 32 gigawatts (GW). Additional SEZs have
since been added in California and Arizona.
After receiving some initial interest specifically in portions of those lands in Colorado, the BLM issued a RFP this spring
for three parcels spanning two SEZs in the San Luis Valley across
roughly 3,700 acres, with projected solar energy potential of 400 MW.
(Colorado has four SEZs in total.) That RFP generated nine applications
from five companies, and more than two dozen "expressions of interest."
Minimum bonus bids were set at $63/acre based on rent values and value
of interests of applicants — $3,352 for the De Teilla Gulch zone, and
$4,035 and $4,284 for the Los Motoges East parcels (north and south,
respectively)
When it came time for the live auction last week, however, none of
the companies who submitted preliminary applications showed up,
according to the BLM. There were other developers in attendance — First
Solar, Abengoa, Namaste — some of whom likely are interested in Nevada's
Dry Lake SEZ and wanted to check out the BLM's auction process, offered
Vanessa Lacayo, spokesperson for the BLM's Colorado office.
Reports suggest any number of reasons for the absence of bids,
from lack of clarity in the processes to various policy and financing
uncertainties, to questions about transmission access. There are no
immediate plans for another auction at this time, but Lacayo emphasized
that these specific areas will continue to be available for competitive
solar energy development, as will all the SEZs "as long as we continue
to get interest."
The real question is, should we read anything into this lack of
interest in the BLM's first SEZ auction, and extrapolate that into what
it means for large-scale solar energy development in general? We heard
an awful lot last week at Solar Power International (SPI) about
distributed solar generation and all sorts of related topics, from growth in residential and commercial-scale sectors to ongoing debates on net metering and how to value solar energy. Even the utilities honored by SEPA during the show
shared strong community solar themes. It did feel like there was less
emphasis on megasolar energy development. That could change, though, at
next year's SPI in Las Vegas, in the heart of the U.S. Southwest which
has been the nexus of large-scale solar development in the country.
Solar energy developers and suppliers we talked with during and after
last week's SPI in Chicago who didn't have a significant presence there
have indicated they'll be back in full force in Vegas.
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2013/10/blm-reloading-after-colorado-solar-land-auction-no-shows
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