Awwal 15, 1432 H/April 19, 2011, SPA -- The US Department of Energy has awarded a 2.1- billion-dollar loan guarantee for a massive solar power project in California that will produce enough energy to power some 300,000 homes, according to dpa. The move, announced late Monday, removes one of the last remaining obstacles to the Blythe Solar Power Project in the sun-rich Mojave Desert in south-eastern California. The developer, Solar Trust of America, is a joint venture between the German firms Solar Millennium and Ferrostaal. The project will use parabolic mirrors to concentrate the sun's energy to create steam that drives turbines. Once complete it will be the world's largest solar power plant with a capacity of over 1,000 megawatts on more than 2,800 hectares, according to Solar Millennium. The Blythe project is the second massive development backed by the Department of Energy in less than a week after it finalized a 1.6- billion-dollar loan guarantee to BrightSource Energy to build a separate solar project in the Mojave. "California is the national leader in clean energy, and our great state is poised to become the world leader in renewable energy generation," said Governor Jerry Brown in a statement. California's previous governor Arnold Schwarzenegger passed legislation requiring the state to generate 33 per cent of its power from renewable sources by 2020. -- SPA
