Another problem, which has come up in wind and solar energy development, is that local zoning codes don’t anticipate the creation of a new industry. “You often get into the issue of whether some designation in the zoning code—food processing or fish hatchery—covers you or whether you need to amend the code to cover your new kind of facility,” Mostow says. “That might be a safer process even if it does take a couple of extra months.”

Another concern with locating these ventures in the Southwest is the region’s history of contentious water issues. Even projects that tap nonpotable saltwater aquifers will have to deal with wastewater treatment and disposal issues in a region where fast-growing cities such as Las Vegas and Phoenix keep a watchful eye on any threat to the quantity and quality of water available.

Algae ponds also differ from wind power in that it will totally change the land-use pattern, Mostow says. A wind farm requires only a small percentage of the area leased for the actual towers and support structures, allowing existing landowners to continue using the area for ranching, farming or other activities. As with the solar collectors, the land for algae ponds must be nearly fully dedicated to energy production. The practical effect is that developers need to purchase any private land for their facilities rather than leasing development rights from the current landowner. “You may as well buy the land, because nobody will be doing anything else on it,” Mostow says.

Another issue facing the development of open ponds is the use of genetically modified strains of algae designed to produce specific products. There are concerns about such organisms being released into the environment, and these concerns are multiplied for open-pond systems compared with keeping the organism isolated in a closed photobioreactor.

Breaking Barriers
While siting and permitting concerns are significant for algae development, Mostow doesn’t think they are insurmountable. In fact, algae photobioreactors that are collocated with existing power plants as a carbon dioxide source are likely to have a relatively easy permitting process as much of the infrastructure for the facility will already be in place. “For those kinds of facilities I see permitting as a low barrier to entry,” Mostow says. “I don’t anticipate that permitting will be a real factor in the growth and development of the technology. The real factor will be does it work?”

Permitting will be a more substantial issue for open-pond facilities. Mostow thinks that the permitting issues for large-scale ponds will be as significant as those for solar thermal collectors and possibly as limiting as ocean energy if federal lands are needed for the project. “Solar thermal is not growing at the same rate that wind energy has,” Mostow says. “Part of this is absolutely that there are greater permitting challenges and a lot more of it is on federal land. It is a guess because there isn’t an algae industry yet, but I think it will be more in that camp. I would say that is a middle area of permitting difficulty, compared with ocean energy, which has been completely stymied by permitting and federal jurisdiction issues. I don’t think algae will have that big of a roadblock.”

A final key to keeping permitting problems to a manageable level is working with area residents, communities and decision makers to increase their comfort level with algae development. “There are two things budding algae producers can do, and it is the recipe the wind industry used,” Mostow says. “First, understand what the most significant issues will be both in the minds of regulators and citizens in that community. You need to know if you have adequate science to address those issues and understand if they are real or not and act accordingly.”

Mostow says the wind industry knew that bird mortality would be the biggest issue and developed new projects and technology to minimize that factor. They also did the science that was necessary to show regulators and the public that the changes they implemented worked.

“No. 2, is practicing engagement with communities early,” Mostow says. “I think you can trade on the ‘green’ aspect, the positive karma if you will, of these projects. But you can only do that if you are out in front of the issue and being proactive. If something comes up that makes it seem like you don’t care about it or address it then no one cares if you are a renewable energy source or clean fuel or anything like that. They’ll just think you don’t care about the environment and then you have lost that chip.”

Jerry W. Kram is a Biodiesel Magazine staff writer. Reach him at jkram@bbiinternational.com or (701) 738-4920.

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