本文摘要：US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has greenlighted the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, a 550MW (AC) solar pow...

An onsite substation and a 230kV generation tie line will connect the project to the Red Bluff substation, which will convert the power from 230kV to 500kV for transmission on SCE’s regional grid.

De Rosa noted that in regards to eventual interconnection of the power plants’ output to the two utilities’ grids, the solar company is “not planning on energizing one off-taker before the other.”

The PV farm will create more than 630 jobs at peak construction and pump an estimated $336 million into the local economy. When built, Desert Sunlight will produce enough electricity to power over 165,000 homes.

About $197 million of the $336 million that the project is expected to generate for the local region will be in the form of wages. More than three-quarters of the total impact will occur during the construction period, with the remainder taking place over the project’s 25-year operating period.

The project, located about six miles north of Desert Center, will also generate about $27 million in sales and property tax revenue to Riverside County.

As part of Interior’s commitment to responsible development of renewable energy, the Desert Sunlight project underwent extensive environmental review and mitigation, with the final environmental impact statement issued on April 15.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) worked in close coordination with Desert Sunlight, the National Park Service, and other stakeholders to significantly reduce the proposed project’s total footprint from 19,000 acres down to 4,144 acres.

In addition, BLM requires that Desert Sunlight provide funding for acquisition and enhancement of more than 7,500 acres of suitable habitat for desert tortoise and other sensitive wildlife species to help mitigate the project’s potential impacts.

The decision authorizes BLM to offer Desert Sunlight Holdings a right-of-way grant to use these public lands for 30 years if all rents and other conditions are met.

The ROD also approves amendments to the bureau’s California Desert Conservation Area Plan, identifying the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm site as available for solar energy development and identifying 14,500 acres in the Project Study Area as unavailable for solar energy development.