by ifandp.com, 11.19.2010

The US Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, has approved Solar Millenium’s Amargosa Farm Road Solar project, which will build two 250MW concentrating solar power plants on US public land. The plants will utilise parabolic trough technology and will feature energy storage systems so that they can supply electricity at night for up to 4.5 hours. The approval is an important precondition for the successful completion of the permitting process that must be finished before construction can begin. Some of the electricity will be supplied to Las Vegas.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has said that Solar Millenium will be eligible for around US$1bn in investment tax credits, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, but the project is expected to pay the local community annual propery taxes of US$12m a year. The company will also have to pay the Bureau a one time-fee on a per MW basis. The project is one of the last to clear before the December deadline for Recovery Act funding. BLM required Solar Millenium to reduce the footprint of the project from 7630 acres to 6320 acres with a project disturbance area of just 4350 acres. A comparison made by Sandia National Laboratory indicates that a 500MW coal-fired power plant takes up less than 1000 acres, but this does not include the footprint of the supporting mining operations.