Really telling piece in Earth2TEch today about the significant site and permitting delays being experienced by Brightsource, one of the most promising solar thermal plays.

This is a private company that is focused and well funded.  They have closed deals in the gigawatt range with two of California’s largest utilities.   They will be able to supply a portion of the renewable energy that these utilities need to meet state mandates.

So you would expect that federal and state officials would be doing everything that could to help companies like Brightsource to come online.  Instead, a one year project has taken over two.   Maybe instead of using our tax dollars to builld bike paths and pave small airfields that are never used, we should be allocating the money to make sure that our government does not get in the way of our real national priorities.  What do you think?