State OKs Ivanpah solar project construction

State energy commissioners Wednesday unanimously approved the construction of 370 megawatt solar project near the California-Nevada stateline.

Officials with BrightSource Energy are waiting for a decision from the Bureau of Land Management before deciding on a construction date for its Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating Facility. The proposed project would sit on about 3,582 acres of BLM land. The BLM is expected to make a decision in October.

Once that decision is made, BrightSource Energy will be eligible for federal stimulus funds. In order to qualify the project needed to be ready for construction by Dec. 31. The company was also awarded a $1.37 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy.

BrightSource filed its application for its Ivanpah project with the California Energy Commission in 2007.

BrightSource’s plan is to begin construction on the project immediately following the BLM’s decision, said company spokesman Keely Wachs. The project will be built in three phases. When it’s completed the project will generate enough electricity to power 140,000 homes.

Officials will begin building the project by fencing off the area and moving 17 California desert tortoises to areas near the project or within the Mojave National Preserve, Wachs said.

BrightSource has labor agreements with the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California as well as the Building and Construction Trades Council of San Bernardino and Riverside County. The project is expected to create 1,000 construction jobs.

The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, concerned that the project would infringe on off-road vehicle and other desert land uses, voted in February to intervene in the project.

First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt was unavailable for comment Wednesday. His spokesman, Andy Silva, said they had visited the project site Monday.

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(760) 256-4123 or jcejnar@desertdispatch.com