This project, which is apparently being called, “The NextEra Genesis Ford Dry Lake Solar Project” (hopefully, someone will come up with something shorter) is one of several being fast-tracked by the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, a division of the U.S. Dept. of the Interior.

Under Ken Salazar, the BLM is pushing BrightSource, Ivanpah, and what this writer calls the Genesis Project, among others. (You can view the full list here).

The Genesis Project, slated for an area about 20 miles west of Blythe in Riverside County, California, north of I-10, near Ford Dry Lake, is a 250-megawatt solar thermal facility covering 4,640 acres and comprised of two independent parabolic trough installations, both using wet cooling.

Therein lies the rub, and NextEra Energy Resources LLC, itself part of a Florida Power and Light (FPL) consortium (though with a distinctly separated legal and operational status), is pushing the project through its subsidiary, Genesis Solar LLC, based in Tucson, Arizona. NextEra is reportedly the largest solar energy generator in the United States, with 17,000 megawatts of generating capacity in 25 U.S. states and Canada.

The project, if granted final approval, will tie in to a 230-volt switching station linked with a Blythe Energy/FPL 500-kilovolt line connecting to the Colorado River substation, approved Nov. 27 by the California Public Utilities Commission, and with the full endorsement of the National Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club because the line follows existing transmission infrastructure and the highway.

Water is, and a public meeting/site visit scheduled for Dec. 10-11 (reservations required) will be immediately followed by a public informational hearing at which concerned citizens can address the issue. The hearing will be held at 2 p.m. in Blythe City Hall Council Chambers.

On the 11th, another public information/scoping meeting will be held at the University of California/Riverside (Palm Desert Campus) in Palm Desert.

The biggest opposition will come from local groups, among them Basin and Range Watch, who oppose solar in the desert based on both critical habitat and a lack of the water needed for wet-cooling solar thermal. Solar thermal uses between 800 and 1,000 gallons of water for every megawatt generated. The Genesis plant will, by extension, use 2,500 acre-feet of water per year, or enough to serve 5,000 families. This water use in desert climates has already caused Solar Millenium to switch to dry- (or air-) cooling for its Amargosa Valley (Nevada) project.

These groups have powerful allies, like California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who has already attempted to block several solar projects slated for California’s Mojave Desert. And, while, Feinstein makes some excellent points about critical habitat, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger also noted, quite pointedly: “If we can’t put solar in the desert, I don’t know where we can put it.”

In the end, the Genesis project will likely win approval based solely on its BLM status as a fast-track project. This does not make it right or wrong, but points out the need for America to switch its power base from dirty coal to clean, solar energy – a move that will benefit wildlife everywhere.