Largest Solar Farm on U.S. Public Land Goes Online

A new solar farm has been approved by the Department of the Interior as part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan and is expected to displace 614,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, equivalent to removing 60,000 vehicles from the road. The Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, located in Riverside County, CA, uses over 8 million thin film photovoltaic modules to generate energy for consumers in the southwest.

While the original proposal called for 19,000 acres to be used for the project, as part of the environmental review and mitigation process, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was able to reduce the footprint of the project to only 4,100 acres. Since 2009, the BLM has approved 52 utility-scale renewable energy projects, which are projected to provide more than 21,000 jobs and power around 4.8 million homes while reducing emissions associated with electricity production.

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