USA: Polluted land converted into space for solar power plant

In urban planning, thousands of acres of land in California's San Joaquin Valley were earmarked for agriculture, but now they will be used for other purposes due to the buildup of salt and selenium, a toxic chemical, after years of irrigation. Specifically, over 12.000 acres of land will be used to build what could be the world's largest solar farm. Local farmers and administrators of the Westlands Water District, the public agency that supplies water to the valley's farms, agree. As the New York Times reports, the Westland Solar Park would produce an amount of energy equivalent to that of several large nuclear power plants. Furthermore, if the project were to be successful, local farmers would have access to a larger amount of water, namely the water not used to irrigate fields converted to development land. Unlike other renewable energy projects that have met with opposition from environmentalists, this one has their support. By reusing polluted land and having a near-zero impact on nature, initiatives like the one in the San Joaquin Valley could represent the next frontier in renewable energy sources. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are evaluating dozens of former landfills as sites for new wind farms and solar power plants. All projects are still in their early stages, but the support they receive from landowners, environmentalists, and regulators has attracted the attention of solar developers and utility companies. Copyright APCOM (c) 2008