The federal government has given its approval for a thousand-megawatt solar development in southern California, making it the largest solar-panel project envisioned for public land in the U.S.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the $6 billion project is the start of a major push for green energy projects on federal land. It will be built near Blythe, California in the Mojave Desert.
“Today is a day that makes me excited about the nation’s future,” Salazar said Monday. “This project shows in a real way how harnessing our own renewable resources can create good jobs here at home.”
Solar Millennium, a German-based solar company, is developing the Blythe project, which is expected to use over 7,000 acres by the California-Arizona border about 225 miles from Los Angles.
The Interior Department has now approved six solar power developments in October. All of them are in Nevada or California with a seventh project on the way that could be approved within a few weeks.
All together, these projects could generate enough megawatts of power to send electricity to as many as 2 million households. Construction of the projects is anticipated to create more than 2,000 jobs and then hundreds of permanent jobs when the plants are up and running.
“We’re finally going to see solar energy produced on public lands in the United States — and this is something the public wants,” said Monique Hanis, a spokeswoman for the Solar Energy Industries Association.
The announcements have come about five years after solar companies asked the governments for rights to develop plans on federal land the Southwest.
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