SPECIAL REPORT-With solar power, it's Green vs. Green

SERIOUS SOLAR

California has a handful of solar plants that date from the late 1980s, but the solar industry has only recently taken off in a big way. Fears over dependence on overseas fuel sources, a growing distaste for coal-powered electricity and generous government subsidies have all conspired to boost the industry.

Currently, the largest solar plant in the U.S. is just 160 megawatts -- enough to power up to 50,000 homes. But BrightSource's Ivanpah at 370 megawatts just upped the ante. A stream of proposed plants is following in its footsteps, including a pair of 550-megawatt plants slated to break ground next year in San Luis Obispo County and Riverside County, and a 1,000-megawatt plant under development in Riverside County.

Of course, savvy operators can try to stave off legal action. Until last week's lawsuit by the Cuna de Aztlan, BrightSource had successfully taken this approach with Ivanpah.

One tactic is to go all out to protect plants and animals at risk. Solar companies can go above and beyond the requirements of the law, with extra-detailed studies of the species in question, extra-large purchases of land for use as preserves to offset ill effects at the site, and so on.

Solar Millennium is getting a lesson in going to great lengths with its proposed 250-megawatt Ridgecrest plant, mostly on private land in California's Kern County. Officials are worried about the effect on the Mohave ground squirrel, so Solar Millennium is considering whether to fund a two-year study to evaluate the squirrel population in the area. Phil Leitner, the independent biologist leading the study, says if the study goes ahead, he plans to trap squirrels, put radio collars on them, and take tissue samples from their ears to determine their genetic makeup.

Back in the Panoche Valley, the environmental reports and the permitting process have eaten up almost two-thirds of the money Solargen has raised. Among the bills: paying for scat-sniffing dogs to run up and down the hills, looking for traces of the endangered San Joaquin kit fox.

But not all the valley's residents are against the plant. "It's good for making work," says Mario Bencomo, 53, a ranch hand who says several unemployed friends are eager for jobs.

And naturally, many landowners want to see the plant go up, including San Benito County residents who live outside the Valley but own land there. Some have sold options on their property for the project -- for prices of up to $2,600 an acre, according to a person familiar with the situation. Among them are Reprise Software vice president of operations Sallie Calhoun and her husband, Reprise chief executive Matt Christiano.

In addition to her Panoche Valley property, Calhoun also owns a ranch a few minutes' drive from the valley in the hamlet of Paicines. She uses sustainable grazing techniques there, chairs the board of a group that works to restore grasslands, and generally considers herself a steward of the environment.

She sees no conflict between her position on the environment and her support of the solar project. "I am passionate about preserving open space," she says, adding she believe the solar plant achieves that goal. "The idea that we're going to protect every lizard, every drainage, seems counterproductive." (Editing by Claudia Parsons and Jim Impoco)