Schools could reap millions in renewable-energy push
If you think by diving into renewable energy -- wind, solar, geothermal -- Utah's trust-lands managers are pursuing a green agenda, you're right.
But if you think some idealistic environmental vision is driving that push, think again.
The green motivating the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration is money.
SITLA estimates that renewable- and alternative-energy projects could generate millions for the school trust within five years.
"In the last nine months," said John Andrews, SITLA's associate director, "the level of interest in [renewables] has gone through the roof."
In January, managers issued the first lease for a wind-energy development on trust lands. The first new geothermal project in Utah in the past 20 years lies on state land. And SITLA is venturing into new solar technology that incorporates compressed-air storage as a way to keep the watts churning even when the sun doesn't shine.
The quasi-governmental agency has leased 1,560 acres to a subsidiary of First Wind Energy, the developer of the Milford Wind Project that straddles the line between Millard and Beaver counties. The wind turbines could generate 27.5 megawatts, enough for 27,500 households. The wind company plans to sell the power to Los Angeles, Burbank and Pasadena in Southern California.
SITLA says the wind-farm lease is expected to generate several million dollars in revenue to the school trust over the initial
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30-year lease. The agency also is considering several other wind-related leasing opportunities.
Provo's Raser Technologies Inc. has erected a geothermal electricity plant on trust land in Beaver County. The company plans to build more on adjacent trust lands, Andrews said, generating $2 million a year by decade's end.
But most exciting to SITLA is the possibility of working with private companies on utility-scale arrays of reflective solar collectors -- a technology called "concentrating solar power" -- that would incorporate another advanced technology: compressed-air energy storage.
"This has the potential," Andrews said, "to be a really big deal for the state."
Here's how it would work: The solar collectors would generate energy that could be used to compress air, which in turn would be stored in caverns in a salt layer several thousand feet below ground.
The stored compressed air could be tapped to supercharge turbines when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing, Andrews said. That means intermittent solar and wind power would be available when users need it.
Andrews said SITLA recently signed up a private-equity firm in Houston to fund the salt-cavern development. Each would be about 1,000 feet by 400 feet.
SITLA has multiple applications for concentrating solar, which can heat water, molten salt or some other working fluid. The projects would be in southwestern Utah.
But there is a downside: Since turbines need a cooling system, water availability could be an issue.
Utah Clean Energy Executive Director Sarah Wright has followed SITLA's renewable-energy push, which she characterized as "a solid investment that brings returns."
The state has mapped renewable-energy zones, and the federal stimulus package will bring funds for both alternative energy and efficiencies that, Wright said, would meet all new energy demand through 2020.
About SITLA
The School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration manages state lands with the goal of making money for Utah education. Those funds go to the state Permanent School Fund, a perpetual endowment that distributes millions of dollars a year to K-12 public schools.
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