$1 Billion Solar Project Approved For Riverside County Desert

COACHELLA VALLEY, CA — A $1 billion solar project that's predicted to generate up to 450 megawatts of electricity and power about 117,000 homes has been approved for construction on approximately 3,000 acres of public lands in Riverside County's desert area, it was announced Wednesday by the Bureau of Land Management's Palm Springs office.

The BLM approved the Desert Quartzite Solar Project that will be built south of Interstate 10, approximately 8 miles southwest of the City of Blythe. Once completed, the solar facility will transmit electricity to the Southern California Edison Colorado River Substation, according to the BLM.

Construction on the project is expected to take up to 30 months, with anticipated operation by 2022. During "peak construction," up to 870 jobs will be created, according to the BLM.

Desert Quartzite, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of First Solar, will construct, operate, maintain and decommission the project. The facility will include a main generation area, on-site substation, switchyard, site security, a 230 kV generation-tie line, and an operations and maintenance facility, according to the BLM.

The project "will result in a private infrastructure investment of $1 billion, with $3 million in annual operational economic benefit, ... and provide up to about $2.7 million in annual rent and fees to the U.S. Treasury," according to a statement from the BLM. "The Desert Quartzite Solar Project advances the Department of the Interior’s America First Energy Plan, an 'all of the above' strategy that supports energy development on public lands, improving infrastructure and creating jobs in local economies."

Not everyone is happy about the massive project, however. The environmental group Basin and Range Watch wrote on its website that public lands wildlife habitat is being "gobbled up for mega-power plants. To fight climate change we are supposed to plant trees and protect their carbon-sequestration abilities. Yet the proposed Desert Quartzite Solar Project would bulldoze and destroy palo verde trees, desert ironwood, and smoke trees."

Information about the solar project is available online at https://bit.ly/37653WQ.