The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has given its final approval to a solar and storage project to be constructed on public lands in California, according to the country's Interior Department. The project is planned to have 350 MW solar PV with a 350 MW energy storage system.
The $550 million Crimson Solar Project will be owned by Sonoran West, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar's Recurrent Energy, LLC. It will be spread on close to 2,000 acres of BLM-administered lands that are designated for renewable energy development under the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP), near Riverside County, California. It is expected to create some 650 temporary construction jobs, 10 permanent jobs and 40 temporary jobs over the 30-year life of the project.
Power generated by the facility will be delivered through the Southern California Edison Colorado River Substation.
Secretary Deb Haaland of Interior Department said, "Projects like this can help to make America a global leader in the clean energy economy through the acceleration of responsible renewable energy development on public lands."
Bloomberg believes it is the 1st solar power plant approved for public lands in the Joe Biden administration.
Recently, the Interior Department established a Climate Task Force to accelerate Renewable Energy Development and foster investments in energy communities (see US Department Of Interior Sets Up Climate Task Force).