HOLTVILLE — Renewable energy development as a driving force to restore the ailing Salton Sea was discussed by panelists Friday during the last day of the sixth annual Renewable Energy Summit held at the Barbara Worth Resort.
The panel session, Salton Sea: Resource of Opportunity, explored mitigation projects planned for the area, as well as technology that could lower salinity in the Salton Sea and harvest solar energy at the same time.
Bruce Wilcox, environmental program manager for the Imperial Irrigation District, technology entrepreneur George Nitschke, as well as advocacy leader Juan De Lara, Imperial County Supervisor Ryan Kelley and Rebecca Terrazas-Baxter, who spoke on behalf of Assemblyman V. Manuel Perez, comprised the panel.
“There is obviously no silver bullet to fixing the sea,” said Terrazas-Baxter, who listed bills sponsored by Perez and crafted to help the Salton Sea
She said that Perez hopes that by working together stakeholders can fix the Salton Sea and tap the renewable potential of the area that includes geothermal energy and so-called hydro fuels.
Later in the discussion, Wilcox talked about the many factors that are causing the Salton Sea to shrink and salinity to increase.
The sea reached a peak in 1994, but began losing inflow water coming from Mexico, he said. To an extent the Salton Sea is also affected by the Quantification Settlement Agreement, the nation’s largest agriculture-to-urban water transfer, he said.
In addition, the Salton Sea is a closed basin lake and evaporation causes salt and nutrients to concentrate there.
“So the lake continues to get saltier,” he said before showing models that predict considerable playa exposure in the coming decades.
And yet, mitigation plans are in place. Shoreline habitat projects as well as shallow water habitat-creation plans would be created by re-flooding certain areas, Wilcox said.
But the panel’s highlight came from Nitschke’s presentation of the so-called salinity gradient solar ponds.
Nitschke, president of Good Earth Mechanics, indicated this technology could help restore the Salton Sea and at the same time produce power on a constant basis.
Explained in short, this technology is a type of solar thermal energy system that captures solar energy and stores it in a saline layer of water at the bottom of a specially designed artificial pond, “which is a good fit for the Salton Sea because you guys got a lot of salt you need to get rid of,” he said.
The idea is that salt water would be taken from the Salton Sea, placed in solar ponds and then fresher water would be put back in proposed wetlands.
“Simply put, we are proposing to cover the playa with solar ponds, and this can be done in incremental fashion … conforming to regional landscape and regional constraints,” said Nitschke, who also indicated that solar ponds are typically more labor intensive than other renewable energy systems.
Before concluding and noting one megawatt of power costs about $5 million, he said this plan required a wide array of stakeholders to work, including land owners, customers and geothermal developers whose steam would be used.
After the panel discussion Kelley, who represents the county’s Northend, said the gradient salinity ponds seemed like potential restoration solution.
Moreover, he agreed that there seems to be an increased interest in the Salton Sea and said he believed development will happen in the sea within five years that will offset some of the costs associated with restoration.
“I’m dedicated to making sure that every resource, every angle and a solution is going to be completed,” Kelley said. “We are going to lead and make it enticing … we are going to make it easy for the state and federal government to join in on this effort because to do nothing is not an option.”
Staff Writer Alejandro Dávila can be reached at 760-337-3445 or adavila@ivpressonline.com
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