Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 3:29:22 PM - by Nate Lew

The growth of solar energy has raised some unforeseen issues that could affect some major projects in the coming years.

A New York Times report features the issue of water supply and how it pertains to some large facilities that have been planned in Nevada. For example, one project was expected to consumer about 1.3 billion gallons of water per year, which is said to be 20 percent of the desert area's entire available water supply.

The report notes that other renewable energy projects, including biofuel refineries and clean coal plants, are also water intensive.

"When push comes to shove, water could become the real throttle on renewable energy," the report quoted Michael Webber of the University of Texas as saying.

One aspect of the industry that can involve heavy water usage is solar thermal technology, which generates industrial scale amounts of electricity by using mirrors to reflect sunlight onto a large container of water that then powers turbines.

For that and other reasons, some utilities have been more inclined to use distributed solar energy projects, which place photovoltaic panels on existing structures in more populated areas.