Community Response to Concentrating Solar Power in the San Luis Valley: October 9, 2008 - March 31, 2010
This report is about the social acceptance of utility-scale concentrating solar power (CSP) plants in the San Luis Valley, approximately 200 miles southwest of Denver, Colorado. The research focused on social factors that may facilitate and impede the adoption and implementation of CSP. During the winter of 2008-2009, interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 25 CSP-related stakeholders inside and outside the Valley. Interviews focused on the perceived advantages and disadvantages of siting a hypothetical 100-MW CSP facility in the Valley, the level of community support and opposition to CSP development, and related issues, such as transmission. State policy recommendations based on the findings include developing education programs for Valley residents, integrating Valley decision makers into an energy-water-land group, providing training for Valley decision makers, offering workforce training, evaluating models of taxation, and forming landholder energy associations. In addition, the SLV could become a laboratory for new approaches to CSP facility and transmission siting decision-making. The author recommends that outside stakeholders address community concerns and engage Valley residents in CSP decisions. Engaging the residents in CSP and transmission decisions, the author says, should take parallel significance with the investment in solar technology.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 983406
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/SR-550-48041; AEK-9-88340-01; TRN: US201014%%645
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Final Technical Report - Photovoltaics for You (PV4You) Program
Modeling of Dust Levels Associated with Potential Utility-Scale Solar Development in the San Luis Valley-Taos Plateau Study Area
Related Subjects
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
DECISION MAKING
EDUCATION
IMPLEMENTATION
RECOMMENDATIONS
TRAINING
SOLAR ENERGY
UTILITY-SCALE CONCENTRATING SOLAR POWER
CSP
CONCENTRATING SOLAR POWER
SAN LUIS VALLEY
SOCIAL FACTORS
ADOPTION OF CSP
CSP-RELATED STAKEHOLDERS
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SITING
COMMUNITY SUPPORT
Solar Energy - Thermal