U.S. grants green light to world’s largest solar power project

By Nuel Navarrete

Clusters of parabolic mirrors will absorb heat energy from the sun.div>

Solar power is set to take up the bulk of California’s electricity demand in the future as the United States Department of the Interior approved construction of the 1-gigawatt Blythe solar project on state public lands.
Interior secretary Ken Salazar signed the decision on Monday authorizing the largest solar energy project in the world on public property.

The decision allows the Bureau of Land Management to provide a right-of-way grant to project developer Solar Millennium A.G., which will use a spot of land measuring 7,025 acres located eight miles west of Blythe in Riverside County, California.

It marks the final stage of the approval process after the Blythe solar power project initially gained license from the California Energy Commission, the state regulator for solar thermal projects.

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A massive solar project, Blythe will feature four independent solar facilities bearing a generating capacity of 250 megawatts each. The combined maximum solar generating capacity of 1,000 MW, or 1 gigawatt, will be enough to service 300,000 to 750,000 homes.

Solar parabolic trough technology will be used to harness the sun’s rays. Clusters of parabolic mirrors will absorb heat energy from the sun and redirect the radiation to a receiver tube at the focal point of each parabola. This initiates a series of energy transfer processes which allows the facility to generate clean, emission-free electricity.

“This project shows in a real way how harnessing our own renewable resources can create good jobs here at home,” said Mr. Salazar.

At the peak of its construction, the project is expected to generate 1,066 jobs and 295 permanent jobs. It will also inject approximately $400,000 in tax revenues into Riverside County’s economy each year.

Getting approval for the project was not without problems however. After undergoing an environmental review, the project was required by the land management division to appropriate 8,000 acres of devoted habitat for animals in the area.

Nevertheless, the United States Department of Energy pledged to supply Solar Millennium with conditional loan guarantees amounting to $1.9 billion through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

In the last few weeks, the Department of the Interior passed a number of milestone decisions as part of the government’s efforts to accelerate large-scale renewable energy production on public lands.

Aside from the Blythe solar power project, the department gave the signal to the Imperial Valley solar project, Chevron Lucerne Valley solar project, Ivanpah solar electric generating system and the Calico solar project, all in California.

“The Blythe solar power project is a major milestone in our nation’s renewable energy economy and shows that the United States intends to compete and lead in the technologies of the future,” said Mr. Salazar.
“With the approval of the Blythe project, the solar projects approved on B.L.M. public lands in the last few weeks have the potential to generate up to 2,800 megawatts of renewable energy. That’s enough to power up to 2 million homes,” estimated Bob Abbey, a director at the bureau.

 Source:
http://www.ecoseed.org/en/solar-energy/concentrating-solar-power/article/53-concentrating-solar-power/8295-u-s-grants-green-light-to-world%E2%80%99s-largest-solar-power-project

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