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Solar radiation levels in the Southwest are some of the best in the world. A significant number of acres administered by the BLM in Arizona, southern California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah register levels of solar radiation suitable for utility-scale solar power plant development using current technology. The need for clean, affordable domestic energy supplies is renewing interest in using solar energy to produce electricity. Solar energy can supplement other resources to serve the country's need for energy and help sustain continued economic development. The BLM has recently received a large number of utility-scale solar energy right-of-way applications, mainly in California, Nevada, and Arizona. Responding to an increased interest in solar energy development, the BLM issued guidance to facilitate the processing of right-of-way (ROW) applications for solar energy projects on public lands. Existing solar energy applications are being processed under the BLM's Solar Energy Policy (04/04/2007). The BLM's existing solar energy policy:
The BLM and the DOE have also initiated the preparation of a joint programmatic environmental impact statement to assess the environmental, social, and economic impacts associated with solar energy development on BLM-managed lands in the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.
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The dry, sun-drenched desert areas of the southwestern United States hold enormous potential for large-scale deployment of solar energy facilities and systems. Solar energy can be used to generate electricity, monitor ecosystem conditions, pump water for livestock, and provide lighting and communications in remote desert areas. Today, 354-megawatt parabolic trough solar thermal power plants in California’s Mojave Desert generate electricity for the power grid. Contracts for energy produced by these plants provide power to about 380,000 homes.