Project Description
Genesis Solar LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and wholly owned subsidiary of NextEraTM Energy Resources LLC, proposes to construct, own, and operate the Genesis Solar Energy Project. The project would be a concentrated solar electric generating facility that would be located in Riverside County, California.
The project would consist of two independent solar electric generating facilities with a nominal net electrical output of 125 megawatts (MW) each, for a total net electrical output of 250 MW. Electrical power would be produced using steam turbine generators fed from solar steam generators. The solar steam generators receive heated transfer fluid from solar thermal equipment comprised of arrays of parabolic mirrors that collect energy from the sun.
The project would use a wet cooling tower for power plant cooling. Water for cooling tower makeup, process water makeup, and other industrial uses such as mirror washing would be supplied from on-site groundwater wells. Project cooling water blowdown would be piped to lined, on-site evaporation ponds.
The project site is located approximately 25 miles west of the city of Blythe, California, on lands managed by the BLM. The project is an undeveloped area of the Sonoran Desert. Surrounding features include the McCoy Mountains to the east, the Palen Mountains (including the Palen/McCoy Wilderness Area) to the north, and Ford Dry Lake, a dry lakebed, to the south. Interstate-10 (I-10) is located to the south of the project site. The Chuckwalla Mountains and Little Chuckwalla Mountains Wilderness Areas are also located farther south-southwest. The project area is currently undisturbed, although the area has been used for grazing and off-highway vehicle recreation in the past. Ford Dry Lake was formerly open to the public for off-highway vehicle use but has since been closed.
Public Comments
Comments on this project are welcome at anytime during the environmental review process. However, to ensure that comments will be adressed in the Final EIS/SA, the BLM must receive written comments on the Draft EIS/SA and Plan Amendment within 90 days following the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes its Notice of Availability (NOA) in the Federal Register.
Comments addressed to BLM can be sent by e-mail CAPSSolarNextEraFPL@blm.gov, fax (760) 833-7199, or in writing to Allison Shaffer, Project Manager, Palm Springs South Coast Field Office, Bureau of Land Management, 1201 Bird Center Drive, Palm Springs, California 92262.
Update – July, 2010
Click on the links below to view public comments on this project.
Public Meetings and Hearings
The EIS process is initiated with publication of a Notice of Intent (NOI) and requires public scoping. A NOI was published for this project on November 23, 2009. A public scoping meeting was subsequently held on December 11, 2009 at the University of Riverside Palm Desert Graduate Center located at 75-080 Frank Sinatra Drive in Palm Desert, California.
Future meetings, hearings and any other public involvement activities will be announced at least 15 days in advance through public notices, media releases, and/or mailings.
For more information please contact the Bureau of Land Management Project Manager Allison Shaffer at (760) 833-7100
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