A Massive Solar Power Farm Will Be Built in California Desert

The California desert will welcome another massive solar power farm to its sandy, and sunny, land. 

The U.S. Department of the Interior announced on Monday, May 3, that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had signed off on a new major solar energy project called the Crimson Solar Project.

Once completed, the $550 million project will have the capacity to power some 87,500 homes in the area. It'll be built across 2,000 acres of BLM-administered lands as a 350-megawatt (MW) facility capable of storing that same amount of energy to generate and deliver power via the Southern California Edison Colorado River Substation.

The Crimson Solar Project will be owned by Sonoran West Solar Holdings, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Recurrent Energy.

"The time for a clean energy future is now. We must make bold investments that will tackle climate change and create good-paying American jobs," said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. 

Indeed, the project will employ 650 people for its construction, keeping 10 permanent, and 40 temporary positions once it's built for the duration of its 30-year lifetime.

"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," Haaland continued.

Major solar farms around the world

The Crimson Solar Project will join the likes of some of the world's largest solar energy farms in the country, as well as around the world.

For instance, the Solar Star solar farm, also located in California, is currently the biggest of its kind in the U.S. with some 1.7 million solar panels spread across two sites that generate 314MW and 265MW, respectively. All in all, it's able to power some 250,000 homes. 

The U.S. also boasts the Topaz Solar Farm in California that can generate 580MW of power, and the Ivanpah Solar also in California that generates 392MW, as well as the Agua Caliente solar farm in Arizona that generates 290MW, among others. 

In other parts of the world, some of the largest solar farms can be found in Australia with the Australia-ASEAN Power Link project that should be able to power 20 percent of Singapore's needs. China is another big contender for solar farms with its solar farm in Qinghai province, and one in the Tengger desert. India, and the United Arab Emirates, among other nations, host major solar power farms, too. 

A number of companies and countries are also expanding our current knowledge of solar power, with some moving projects away from sunny places like deserts, rather choosing to base them on water, and even in Space.