Concentrating Solar Ready for Prime Time?

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 18, 2006--For the first time ever, utility ratepayers in Colorado have asked that incentives to burn coal for electric power be replaced with solar power. Concentrating solar power (CSP) produces steam with mirrors that gather sunlight. By storing some of the heat, CSP runs generating plants day and night. A new form of CSP that is directly cost-competitive with fossil fuel combustion is now entering commercial deployment, according to the testimony submitted Friday at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC).

"The southwestern United States has superb solar resources, with more energy than Saudi Arabia waiting to be tapped," said John S. O'Donnell, the expert witness who submitted the testimony on Concentrating solar power. "This solar power can directly replace the burning of fossil fuels to heat water and produce steam," said O'Donnell.

Dan Friedlander, an individual in the Colorado PUC case, said, "We all need to be concerned about future costs of coal and carbon regulations because ratepayers will be footing the bill, especially here in Colorado. Coal burning exposes us to rate increases and the dangers of planetary heating. Generating our power with sunlight instead of coal is the safest, soundest, and cheapest choice."

Alison Burchell, a geologist and spokesperson for Ratepayers United of Colorado, said, "We talk about carbon capture as if it's a ready solution to critical planetary warming. But trying to bury the massive amounts of CO2 emitted from coal plants is like burying a mountain range - it will be difficult and, at the least, very expensive. If we build CSP plants instead, we avoid paying for the coal and its transportation and the monumental back-end costs to bury its exhaust."

Ratepayers United of Colorado recommends that policies outlined in the Western Governor's Association January 2006 Solar Task Force Report be aggressively implemented.

"Ratepayers in Colorado are being asked to pay premium prices for our utilities to burn more coal, and to accept uncertainty about future electric costs and massive environmental costs," said Friedlander. "Instead we should develop our abundant solar resources and meet all our power needs securely. Building solar infrastructure is the best use of our money now, and the best legacy we can leave future generations."

More information about the case or Ratepayers United is available at http://www.ratepayersunited.org.