Meeting Examines Benefits, Costs of Developing Solar Energy

Experts at a two-day workshop and seminar will discuss how solar would likely impact water supplies.

While solar offers the prospect of power from a limitless and free natural resource, production comes with associated costs, not the least of which is water, already in short supply in the Southwest.

Experts across a spectrum of viewpoints will discuss how solar will impact consumption of water and other natural resources. The Southwest Hydrology workshop on Thursday is a chance for regional stakeholders in land and water management to hear and discuss the issues. A half-day symposium that follows on Friday morning will describe new developments in solar technologies and other renewable fuels such as algae-produced biofuel.

The workshop and symposium, Water and Land for Renewable Energy in the Southwest, is scheduled for Oct. 22-23 at the Marriott University Park Hotel in Tucson. Sponsors include Tucson Electric Power Company, the University of Arizona's Biosphere 2 and Arizona Research Institute for Solar Energy and the environmental consulting firm RECON.

The symposium features 13 speakers from research and industry across the Southwest, including:

• Brad Albert, director of resource planning for Arizona Public Service
• Peter Culp, a law partner with Squire, Sanders and Dempsey who specializes in natural resources law
• Mike Hightower, a researcher at Sandia National Laboratories
• Stan Leake, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey
• Brian Rasmussen, director of project development for the solar developer BrightSource Energy
• Linda Resseguie, a project manager for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management
• Marc Spitzer, a commissioner with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and former chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission
• Craig Turchi, a solar energy researcher with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
• Johanna Wald, senior attorney and land program director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.