US Military Eyes Big Solar On Desert Bases - Look at a map of southern California, and you'll see several large gray patches. These depict sprawling bases, testing ranges, weapons

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(Free-Press-Release.com) January 18, 2012 -- Look at a map of southern California, and you'll see several large gray patches.

These depict sprawling bases, testing ranges, weapons stations, airfields – you name it – that the various branches of the U.S. military oversee. In addition, according to a new U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) study, these swaths of desert land could be gold mines for solar power.


The department's Office of Installations and Environment concluded that 96 percent of the surface area of nine desert military installations it studied (including two in Nevada) would have to be off limits to solar projects for military or environmental reasons. 



Nevertheless, that still left 25,000 acres judged "suitable" for development, and all told the study said 7,000 megawatts of solar energy capacity was technically and economically feasible.

Of course, just because the DOD thinks the land is suitable for solar development doesn't mean everyone else will – and in its report the military acknowledged that there would be questions about who would oversee private-investor led solar development on what are known as "withdrawn lands." 


These are lands that are part of the public domain supervised by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM), but that have been withdrawn from the operation of public land laws to serve military mission needs. If they weren't being used for military purposes, would it still up to the DOD to decide their fate? Or would the BLM step in? And what role might the state of California play?

How these questions are answered could determine what environmental-review processes and regulations come into play, and the pace and success of development.

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