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:: California STEG project clears initial permitting hurdle (12 Mar 2010)
The staff of the California Energy Commission has given a preliminary green light to Solar Millennium and Chevron Energy’s plans to develop a 1GW parabolic trough solar thermal electrical generation project.
The staff of the CEC, in conjunction with the US Bureau of Land Management, said that the planned Blythe project, to be located on BLM lands in Riverside County, California, would comply with all necessary laws, so long as it the developers took certain steps to mitigate environmental impact. The project will consist of four units, each with a capacity of 250MW and generating 2,100GWh of annual electricity at a roughly 24% average capacity factor. The CEC and BLM issued their findings via a staff assessment (SA) and draft environmental impact statement (EIS).

The staff said that only visual resources would be significantly impacted by the project and would be unmitigable. If fully approved, project construction would begin in Q4 2010, with commercial operations commencing Q2 2013.

Solar Millenium submitted its application for certification for the project in August 2009 and aims to begin construction by December 2010 to be eligible for US Treasury grants programme. Established under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February 2009, the programme allows renewable energy project developers to receive cash grants worth 30% of their total project costs in lieu of tax credits.

The move by the CEC staff hardly represents the end of the permitting process for the Blythe project. Staff will conduct a public workshop in April 2010 on the SA/EIS and anticipates publication of the supplemental SA and final EIS in July 2010.

California-based Solar Millennium LLC is owned by Ohio-based Solar Trust of America which is backed by German firms Man Ferrostaal and Solar Millennium AG.