Dive Brief:

• The federal government is nearing approval of the Desert Renewable Energy and Conservation Plan (DRECP), according to the San Francisco Chronicle, with a decision expected this summer on a plan to site renewable energy development on federal lands in the Mojave Desert of California.
• The joint state-federal initiative has been in the works since 2010, part of work to help California reach 50% renewables by 2030. To get there, the state will need 20,000 MW of new installed renewables capacity.
• But while DRECP would add carbon-free resources like wind and solar, scientists warn the Mojave Desert acts as a large carbon sink, and disturbing the land could wind up releasing the very element the plan seeks to avoid. 

Dive Insight:

The California desert has vast land available to site renewable energy. It hosts three national parks, including Mojave National Preserve, sweltering Death Valley, and the iconic Joshua Tree. But outside of those areas, the federal government and California officials have been developing the DRECP to find appropriate areas for more wind and solar.

Last year, the state and federal officials announced DRECP completed the first phase, and its final environmental impact statement (EIS) and land use plan amendment.

However, the Las Vegas Sun has published an in-depth piece that casts doubt on the proposal, citing scientists who say it could wind up backfiring.

"Globally, there's probably about as much carbon bound up in (desert soil) as there is in the atmosphere,'' University of California at Riverside biologist Michael Allen told the paper. "It's a very large pool.''

A plan proposed by the Bureau of Land Management would set aside almost 400,000 acres of public lands in the California desert, and could make more than 800,000 more available as needed.

The plan has not been perfect for anyone: The wind industry has argued it puts too many prime sites off limits, eliminating 80% of the state’s best wind energy resources on public lands, according to the CalWEA.

The solar industry has cautioned it could keep California from reaching its environmental goals, and scientists are now sounding the alarm as well. Earth systems scientist Rebecca Hernandez, at the University of California at Davis. told the paper the desert plan is "an environmental story in the United States that hasn't received the attention that it's owed," and  "has really gone under the radar.''

A decision on the plan is expected out this summer.

Renewable developers who have been working with the plan as stakeholders include Brightsource, EnXco,  First Solar, Iberdrola Renewables, SunPower and others.