The only thing standing between California and the world’s largest solar power plant is four desert tortoises.
The four reptiles will be relocated in the coming weeks to make room for the Blythe Solar Power Project in eastern Riverside County by year-end. The Interior Department approved the plan Monday.
At 6,000 acres, the project will be the largest concentrated solar power plant in the world, said Bill Keegan, spokesman for Solar Trust of America. It eventually will generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 300,000 homes.
The project is the first solar facility to be built on federal land. It is just one of nine in the state that are racing to meet a deadline set by President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package. Renewable power projects that secure all their permits and start construction by year’s end can get a federal grant worth 30 percent of the project’s cost, in lieu of taking a tax credit of equal value.
The site will use mirror arrays to collect and concentrate sunlight. When aimed at a tower filled with liquid at the center of the four separate arrays, that energy will produce steam. The steam will then turn a turbine to generate the electricity.
Keegan said he expects the $6 billion project to begin generating power by the second quarter of 2013.
Despite some concerns, many environmental groups applauded the project. To mitigate potential environmental impacts, Solar Millennium will help create more than 8,000 acres of habitat for the desert tortoise, western burrowing owl, bighorn sheep and fringe-toed lizard.