South of California is the Mojave Desert: a treasure trove of two iconic national parks and the largest national preserve in the United States. A friendly habitat for thousands of indicator species, including bighorn sheep and desert tortoises are protected by federal law. As well as the fantastic Joshua tree, which is found almost nowhere else on the planet. Now, with the renewables boom, the Mojade is home to a dense tapestry of solar plants.
Recent years have seen another boom, but from newcomers fleeing Los Angeles and disrupting the Mojave. Overcrowding parks and special places, trampling fragile landscapes, fueling sprawl outside urban areas, and displacing longtime residents. Some who appreciate the desert fear it is being sacrificed to the urgency of the climate crisis.
Along the Mojave, which stretches to Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, construction of “utility-scale” solar power plants is in full swing, writes Bill Walker in The New Lede. He is a seasoned journalist and environmental advocate.
These solar “farms,” as their developers call them, are arrays of photovoltaic panels that can cover thousands of hectares, he says. And generate electricity in California to power hundreds of thousands of homes. Most of the power is sold to large utility companies.
In the California part of Mojave alone, at least 50 solar plants have been built, approved, or proposed. Some are on private, state or tribal land. Others are on or near federal lands designated to preserve biodiversity, open space, or cultural heritage.
Solar plants in the Mojave desert
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has opened up a large tract of public land in Mojave for potential solar development. In January, the BLM proposed a major expansion of designated solar tracts on public land, including Mojave, Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, and Utah’s Escalante Desert.
To reach its goal of 100% clean electricity by 2045, California must quadruple its use of solar and wind power. The Biden administration’s goal is to get 45% of electricity from solar power by 2050. Both state and federal policy prioritize rapid construction of utility-scale solar over individual rooftop solar panels .
To meet these objectives, a significant number of solar plants are built in the Mojave desert. The region abounds in sunshine, undeveloped land, and proximity to a large urban population.
Walker suggests considering several points. Among them, that solar plants could disturb or destroy the habitat of the desert tortoise, the state reptile, which is feared to be on the brink of extinction. The desert kit fox and dozens of other threatened species.
As well as the heat from the 40-story towers of the Ivanpah Solar Plant, on the California-Nevada border, which incinerates thousands of migratory birds each year. Plus solar plants are encroaching on Joshua Tree National Park and Native American sacred sites.
Also, bulldozing the desert degrades the soil’s ability to sequester greenhouse gases and creates harmful air pollution.
Climate crisis is too urgent
“There is a schism between those environmentalists who feel climate trumps everything and those of us who believe habitat and biodiversity are essential too,” Chris Clarke told The New Lede. Associate Director of the California Desert Program of the National Parks Conservation Association.
“I am talking about people who see a desert valley full of ancient yuccas. And they think the best use is to scrape it off and put in solar panels with a 25-year lifespan,” added Clarke, who also co-hosts a desert protection podcast.
For Clarke, the climate crisis is too urgent to rely on large-scale desert solar as a first line of defense. Permits and construction take too long. And the money would be better spent on household grants for a rapid expansion of rooftop solar. Instead of making a profit for the developers of these solar plants in the Mojave desert and the big utility companies.
A study by the UCLA Institute for Environment and Sustainability gave some findings. It found that placing solar panels on every rooftop in Los Angeles County could generate 94% of the electricity demand in the service area.
As of 2020, state law requires that all new homes must have solar panels. A mandate that was extended this year to new commercial buildings. But in 2022, state regulators slashed the rebates utilities must pay customers for power returned to the grid.
This is expected to drastically reduce the growth of solar energy on the roofs of older homes and buildings.
Other options for placing the panels
Regulators should not have bowed to Edison’s agenda. And other monopoly utilities, who want to control and benefit from the transition to clean energy. Instead, they should have looked at ways to accelerate the growth of consumer-owned rooftop solar, Walker says.
There are other alternatives to large-scale solar power on public land. A study by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that building solar plants on set-aside farmland could provide more and better jobs.
In Stanislaus County, the state is funding a pilot program to install floating solar panels on irrigation canals. Researchers at UC Santa Cruz and UC Merced estimate that covering the state’s agricultural canals with solar panels could generate a sixth of California’s electricity needs. And prevent the evaporation of enough water to supply three million homes.
An Environment America report estimated that solar power on the roofs of California’s more than 10,000 big box stores could generate electricity for nearly 900,000 homes. And put solar panels on every big parking lot in the country. As ordered by France, it could generate more electricity than current US demand.
Los Angeles Times asked readers where to put solar plants instead of the Mojave desert. Suggestions included unproductive farmland, irrigation canals, and parking lots. But one reader had an idea: “To me,” wrote Jeff Barnes of Claremont, from a Los Angeles suburb, “the most logical location for solar panels is along the Southern California Edison rights-of-way. Beneath your transmission lines. The question is, what’s stopping them?
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