In 1849 there was the Gold Rush. Now, in 2008, it is the  Solar Rush. The stage for the future of solar power has been set and aspiring  actors are clamoring for the lead spot. That is, growing demand and renewed  solar tax credits are driving the push for land leases in the wide open desert  Southwest.

Since the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) opened up public  lands to leases for solar power plants,  speculators and financiers have shown keen interest. Until recently, most of  the attention was on California where utilities must meet ambitious renewable  standards.

But land in California is running  out and the focus has moved to Nevada. In just half a year land claims in The  Silver State have tripled in acreage. Now over 700,000 acres are up for review  by the BLM. It's not just California and Nevada either, all over the Southwest  land claims are being filed as financial markets dissolve and renewable energy  demand grows.

The land  rush is attracting some heavy hitters. Investment giant Goldman Sachs alone  is responsible for over 300,000 acres of claims in Nevada alone. There is a big  push to get in line for these valuable leases. The BLM has yet to permit any of  the claims. They review them on a first-come-first-served basis.

That is not stopping investors from getting in line. There  are often two or more companies in line for the same claim. The fact is that  many investors, especially the wealthiest, such as Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan,  expect several of the claims to fall through the cracks or get rejected, either  because of no funding or because they have no strategy for implementing a solar  plant.

That's where these big U.S. and international firms come  into the action. Spanish energy giant Iberdrola and  Solar Millennium are just two, not to mention rivals from Portugal, Israel, and  France. Smaller solar start-ups are represented as well but many of these do  not have the built-in financial backing that may become necessary in the near  future.

That's what the big guys are counting on. Markets around the  globe are struggling, but the vantage point in the United States is somewhat  unique. The market for large-scale renewable projects is set to take off in  North America and there is an immense amount of public land available for  lease. The recent passage of  solar tax credits also allowed utilities into the tax credit game. Whether  they use their sizable capital base to elbow their way into the solar land rush  remains to be seen.