EDF Renewable Energy completes 457 MW Palen Solar Project in California

In an effort hailed by the United States Department of the Interior, EDF Renewable Energy completed two years of labor and brought online its 457 MW photovoltaic facility on public lands of California this week.

Additionally, the project contains 50 MW of battery storage for additional support and flexibility. All in all, the Palen Solar Project should be capable of powering around 116,000 homes.

“Bringing another solar project to full operation on our public lands will accelerate our nation’s transition to a clean energy economy by unlocking renewable resources, creating jobs, lowering costs, and boosting local economies,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said. “The Interior Department will continue to advance the sustainable development of clean energy in order to help meet the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2035.”

EDF first gained authorization from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to build Palen and an approximately seven-mile, single circuit 230 kV generation interconnection transmission line to connect with the Southern California Edison Red Bluff Substation. It was built in five phases in a desert area originally denoted by the BLM as suitable for renewable energy development. It’s an extension of the bureau’s Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP), which combs the 10.8 million acres of public lands in Californian deserts as potential renewable energy development sites.

“The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan represents an unprecedented partnership that balances our country’s equally important goals of facilitating renewable energy while ensuring that lands in California’s deserts are set aside for conservation and recreation,” Laura Daniel-Davis, principal deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management, said. “As with all the Department’s clean energy projects, the Bureau of Land Management has seen this project through to completion with extensive engagement with Tribal governments, local communities, state regulators, industry and other federal agencies.”

The BLM added that even as Palen is brought fully online, regulators are processing another 64 utility-scale onshore clean energy projects that could settle on public lands in the western U.S. From solar, to wind and geothermal, these projects could add more than 41,000 MW of renewable energy onto the western grid in the coming years. Also, 90 preliminary reviews of solar and wind development applications, as well as 51 applications for wind and solar energy testing are underway.