The California Energy Commission on Wednesday approved the construction of the proposed Beacon Solar Energy Project, the first solar thermal power project permitted in 20 years.
In a unanimous vote, the Commission approved licensing of the 250-megawatt facility in eastern Kern County.
Beacon Solar, LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, (NYSE: NEE) would construct, own, and operate the proposed plant. The project is a concentrated solar electric generating facility on approximately 2,012-acres in eastern Kern County on the western edge of the Mojave Desert, four miles from California City and 15 miles north of the town of Mojave.
The project will use well-established parabolic trough solar thermal technology to produce electrical power using a steam turbine generator fed from a solar steam generator. The solar steam generators receive heated heat transfer fluid from solar thermal equipment comprised of arrays of parabolic mirrors that collect energy from the sun.
The Commission said the project, as mitigated, will have no significant impacts on the environment and complies with applicable laws, ordinances, regulations, and standards.
The last solar thermal power plants that the Energy Commission approved were Luz Solar Electric Generating Systems (SEGS) IX and Luz SEGS X in February 1990.
"Today’s action begins the journey of increasing clean renewable energy in California," said Energy Commission Chairman Karen Douglas.
Numerous solar thermal projects are in the development process for California. BrightSource Energy’s Ivanpah project recently received a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and construction is expected to begin this fall.
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