Take that Canada! Just last month our neighbors to the north were known as the country with the world’s largest solar power plant, but now the USA is set to eclipse the 80MW Sarnia Solar Project with a 1,000MW (1GW) installation after receiving approval from the Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. Developed by Solar Millennium, the plant, known as the Blythe Solar Power Project, is set to become the largest solar power facility in the world. It will be located in Riverside County, California and will become the first parabolic trough solar facility approved on U.S. public land.
The Blythe Solar Power project will feature four 250 MW plants that together will deliver 1,000 MW of nominal generating capacity – that is enough energy to power 300,000 single-family homes. Once the project is completed, the Blythe Solar Power Project will single-handedly increase the solar electricity production capacity of the U.S. by more than double, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Energy. Construction of the multi-billion dollar facility is expected to begin by the end of the year.
Speaking about the project, Uwe T. Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Solar Trust of America and Executive Chairman of Solar Millenniumsaid, “This is a historic day not only for our Blythe Solar Power Project but for the entire renewable energy industry. As we move to the construction phase of our Blythe plant, we will clearly demonstrate how solar energy can help power California’s and our country’s future while creating thousands of jobs and stimulating the local and state economies.”
[...] technology may be down the road, but the overall principle makes a lot of sense right now as we see large swaths of desert turned over for energy production. Add in the controversy over transmission lines and [...]
The largest. When you should count the same way x times x Mw you will find the largest solar farms elsewhere in the world. Sorry to say but you should realise the world is a little bit bigger then Inhabitat’s view.
Look at Spain, look at Germany, look at China and look at many other places in the world. Will take a long time before the USA is the largest at any kind of renewable energy http://bit.ly/aKUIwM
Timon- Are you sure you mean double? The DOE website says US solar generation is 800,000, but that number is in “thousands of KWH,” the same as saying MWH. Am I missing something? That means this Blythe project you’re talking about, with 1,000 MWH is only a small fraction of the total, and certainly doesn’t double US production…. unless I’m misreading my units, here.