28-06-09 Base:Solar project would hinder radar

The Nevada Air Force base praised by President Barack Obama for its renewable energy potential wants to shut down a private solar power project,citing potential interference between the project’s 600-foot tower and radar used to guide flight training.Officials at Nellis Air Force Base are asking the Department of Interior to reject the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project,a proposed $700 million plant on federally owned land about 25 miles from the base’s Nevada Test and Training Range.It would be the first commercial solar tower in the U.S.,eventually supplying enough energy for more than 50,000 homes.“The plant would be incompatible with our vital national security interests,” Col.Howard Belote,commander of the 99th Air Base Wing at Nellis,wrote in a June 3 letter to Interior’s Bureau of Land Management.Nellis is about 200 miles from the proposed solar tower and has its own $100 million solar power plant.Obama visited the base in May and called the plant “a shining example of what’s possible when we harness the power of clean, renewable energy.” SolarReserve,the California company behind Crescent Dunes,had originally proposed a site closer to Nellis but moved it farther northwest in an effort to appease the Air Force.Now Nellis suggests SolarReserve move the plant another 200 miles southeast,which could set the project back by more than a year,said Terry Murphy,SolarReserve’s president.The Air Force is requesting the move because Crescent Dunes’ 600-foot solar steam generation tower and wind turbines could create so much background noise that it would be difficult for the service to find and track aircraft flying at the test range,said Nellis spokesman Charles Ramey.“Bottom line is certain types of renewable energy technologies can interfere with air and ground radar systems if they’re located too close to the range,” Ramey said