DOI OKs 485-MW California Solar PV Project

The Department of Interior (DOI) has approved the 485-MW Blythe Mesa Solar project, a photovoltaic (PV) project that will be built in Riverside County, Calif.

RRG Renewables’ project will be built on 3,587 acres of private land—”primarily lands that have already been disturbed by agricultural use,” the agency pointed out—under the jurisdiction of Riverside County and the City of Blythe. The DOI’s approval is needed because the project requires a 230-kV generation interconnection transmission line crossing five miles of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The solar facility will link to the Colorado River substation in eastern Riverside County.

The Blythe Mesa Solar project will consist of a solar array field with single-axis solar PV trackers and a system of interior collection power lines located between inverters and substations.

The project is the 57th authorized by the DOI since 2009. It has so far approved 34 solar, 11 wind, and 12 geothermal utility-scale renewable energy facilities and associated transmission infrastructure. Thirteen of these projects are already in operations, says the DOI.

—Sonal Patel, associate editor (@POWERmagazine, @sonalcpatel)