U.S. solar energy industry blasts government move

By Georgina Coolidge

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leaders in the U.S. solar energy industry blasted the U.S. government on Monday for a freeze on applications for new solar projects on public land in six Western states.

The Bureau of Land Management announced the freeze a month ago, saying it would conduct an extensive study looking at the environmental, social and economic impacts of solar energy development.

During the 22-month study, the agency will not consider any new proposals for solar energy developments on public land in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico or Utah.

Fred Morse, senior advisor for U.S. operations at Abengoa Solar, a Spanish company (ABG.MC) with a solar plant in development in Arizona, said the moratorium could hurt many companies in the burgeoning U.S. industry.

Companies could face hefty fines if they don't deliver on previously signed agreements to supply power, and a blanket freeze on the industry is a mistake, he said.

"All companies will be hurt by this freeze if they have a project (in the works)," Morse said.

Before the freeze went into effect at the end of May, the government had received approximately 130 applications for development on over one million acres of land, said Linda Resseguie, the Bureau of Land Management's project manager for the study.

"We are going to be working with the 130 applications that we have," Resseguie told Reuters on Monday. "It seemed best to us not to continue to build on that until we more fully understand which public lands are best suited for solar energy development."