SOLAR POWER SURGE AS USA FEDS LIFT BAN

Solar power will surge in the US following a federal government decision to reverse its ban on processing applications for new solar power plants on public land.

Environmental groups told Daily Planet Media that rescinding of the moratorium on new solar projects had given the green light for major investment in renewable energies.

Over the last three years, solar companies have filed 125 proposals to lease public land for solar projects that could power 20 million homes.

Plants have been proposed using two different technologies: concentrating collectors and tilted photovoltaic panels.

Solar companies had protested against government concerns that that the large solar plants might affect the environment of undeveloped areas of California and the Southwest.

The decision to accept and process new applications for solar energy projects will help meet growing interest in renewable energy sources.

Solar power developers now had more certainty, said Kevin Swartz, president of Solel USA whose company is developing a 553-megawatt solar thermal power plant in California's Mojave Desert.