The plan to auction rights to federal land across the West for solar power plants got off to a rocky start Thursday when no bidders showed up for the first auction in Colorado.
Uncertainties about the solar market and federal rules likely were major factors in the auction’s failure, industry officials said.
Five companies had filed preliminary applications for the three San Luis Valley parcels, and there were another 27 inquires about the sites, according to Bureau of Land Management officials.
Based on that interest, officials scheduled an auction for the 3,700 acres of valley land at the BLM Colorado office in Lakewood.
“We are going to have to regroup and figure out what didn’t work,” said Maryanne Kurtinaitis, renewable-energy program manager for the BLM in Colorado.
Read more: 1st auction of solar rights on public lands in Colorado draws no bids – The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_24379351/1st-auction-solar-rights-public-lands-colorado-draws#ixzz2igwuPbiL
Read The Denver Post’s Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse
Follow us: @Denverpost on Twitter | Denverpost on Facebook
Related articles
Colorado set be site of nation’s first public lands solar auction – Denver Post (blog) BLM holds auction for solar energy on Colorado public lands – and no one shows Photos: Colorado Outward Bound’s Black Tie & Tennis Shoes Gala Utilities commission to take up solar power issues