Interior gives OK to largest photovoltaic plant yet (08/10/2011)
Debra Kahn, E&E reporter
The Interior Department today granted a right of way to a photovoltaic solar plant in the California desert that will be the largest such facility on public lands.
The 550-megawatt Desert Sunlight farm, being built by a subsidiary of First Solar Inc., has already received a $1.88 billion loan guarantee from the Energy Department (Greenwire, June 30). It will be built on 4,100 acres of public land in Southern California, east of Palm Springs.
Interior officials said earlier this year that they expected to release today's record of decision in June (Land Letter, April 21).
"The Desert Sunlight Solar Farm is the largest photovoltaic facility Interior has approved thus far and, when built, will help power our nation and economy," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a release. "With 12 large-scale solar projects approved in the last 18 months, we continue to make significant strides in spurring innovation, job-creation, and investment in the private sector while strengthening America's energy security."
Lisa Belenky, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said the group had agreed not to challenge the project in exchange for some protections for the threatened desert tortoise but still criticized the overall process that resulted in the original site selection.
"This was the legacy of the fast track, one of those tail-end ones, and we really are pushing the agencies and companies for better siting in the future," she said.
There is one more solar project in California that has yet to receive a BLM permit under last year's expedited permitting process: Solar Millennium LLC's Palen Solar Power Project in Riverside County.
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