There is a fairly common idea that solar power, while a good idea, is not yet good enough or practical enough to produce enough power to serious offset the energy used in the US. That idea is being slowly dissolved as more and more research is done in the field of solar energy generation, and earlier this month a very detailed report put out by Environment America makes some bold statements about just that.

Just a few exerts….

• America has immense potential to generate power from the sun. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has identified the potential for nearly 7,000 gigawatts (GW) of solar thermal power generation on lands in the southwestern United States—more than six times current U.S. electric generating capacity. Other sunny areas of the United States, such as the mountain West, the Great Plains and Florida, can also generate power from solar thermal energy.

• CSP[Concentrating solar power] development has accelerated dramatically since the beginning of 2007. More than 2,800 MW of solar thermal projects are in some phase of development nationwide and could be completed by 2012. CSP benefits the environment and America’s economy.

• CSP can play a leading role in the electric power system. Unlike intermittent forms of renewable energy, CSP plants with thermal energy storage can deliver power when it is needed to serve demand. CSP plants can be designed to provide either peak or baseload power, enabling them to address a variety of needs within the electric grid.

Not only does the report explain how the US could generate enough energy to power the nation with solar technology, it explains several ways it could accomplish it. Probably the most interesting is their calculations that it could take as little as a single solar thermal power plant of 100×100 mile size to produce MORE energy than the entire country would need if it was placed in the right area, which they are saying would be somewhere in the south west.

If you want to read the whole report for yourself, which I recommend if you’re interested (and have time to read a 43 page report), you can grab it right here.

Even assuming they are estimating quite a bit on the generous side of things, it would still seem like the US could be producing a heck of a lot of solar energy in the very near future if the right people take this to heart…and I hope they do.

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