Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Plan Amendment to the California Desert Conservation Area Plan for the Proposed Desert Sunlight Solar Farm Project

Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Plan Amendment to the California Desert Conservation Area Plan for the Proposed Desert Sunlight Solar Farm Project
Author: United States. Bureau of Land Management. Palm Springs Field Office
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2010
Genre: California Desert National Conservation Area (Calif.)
ISBN:

Download Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Plan Amendment to the California Desert Conservation Area Plan for the Proposed Desert Sunlight Solar Farm Project Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Desert Sunlight Holdings, LLC (Sunlight or Applicant), a wholly owned subsidiary of First Solar Development, Inc. (First Solar), proposes to construct and operate a 550-megawatt (MW), nominal capacity, alternating current (AC), solar photovoltaic (PV), energy-generating project known as the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm (DSSF). The Project consists of the PV generating facility (Solar Farm), most of the corridor for the associated 220-kilovolt (kV) generation interconnection transmission line (Gen-Tie Line), and one of two potential sites being considered for a new substation. The Project would be located on lands administered by the US Department of the Interior (DOI), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office. The Project would develop a new 500- to 220- (500/220-) kV substation (referred to herein as the Red Bluff Substation), where the PV generating facility would interconnect with the Southern California Edison (SCE) regional transmission system.

Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Plan Amendment to the California Desert Conservation Area Plan for the Proposed Desert Sunlight Solar Farm Project : for the Palm Springs - South Coast Field Office

Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Plan Amendment to the California Desert Conservation Area Plan for the Proposed Desert Sunlight Solar Farm Project : for the Palm Springs - South Coast Field Office
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2010
Genre: California Desert National Conservation Area (Calif.)
ISBN:

Download Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft Plan Amendment to the California Desert Conservation Area Plan for the Proposed Desert Sunlight Solar Farm Project : for the Palm Springs - South Coast Field Office Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Desert Sunlight Holdings, LLC (Sunlight or Applicant), a wholly owned subsidiary of First Solar Development, Inc. (First Solar), proposes to construct and operate a 550-megawatt (MW), nominal capacity, alternating current (AC), solar photovoltaic (PV), energy-generating project known as the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm (DSSF). The Project consists of the PV generating facility (Solar Farm), most of the corridor for the associated 220-kilovolt (kV) generation interconnection transmission line (Gen-Tie Line), and one of two potential sites being considered for a new substation. The Project would be located on lands administered by the US Department of the Interior (DOI), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office. The Project would develop a new 500- to 220- (500/220- ) kV substation (referred to herein as the Red Bluff Substation), where the PV generating facility would interconnect with the Southern California Edison (SCE) regional transmission system.

Desert Sunlight Solar Farm Project, California Desert Conservation Area Plan Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement

Desert Sunlight Solar Farm Project, California Desert Conservation Area Plan Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011
Genre: California Desert National Conservation Area (Calif.)
ISBN:

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This Plan Amendment/Final Environmental Impact Statement (PA/FEIS) addresses the possible United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approval of an amendment to the California Desert Conservation Area Plan (CDCA Plan) to allow for solar energy and of a right-of-way (ROW) grant to lease land managed by the BLM for construction, operation and decommissioning of a solar photovoltaic energy generation facility. The Agency Preferred Alternative covers approximately 4,176 acres (ac), managed by the BLM, and would generate 550 megawatts (MW) of electricity annually. The PA/FEIS identifies impacts of the Agency Preferred Alternative, including impacts related to biological resources, cultural resources, land use, visual resources, hydrology, water quality, and water use.

The California Desert Conservation Area

The California Desert Conservation Area
Author: United States. Bureau of Land Management. California Desert District
Publisher:
Total Pages: 350
Release: 1980
Genre: Desert ecology
ISBN:

Download The California Desert Conservation Area Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Desert Harvest Solar Project

Desert Harvest Solar Project
Author: United States. Bureau of Land Management. Palm Springs Field Office
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2012
Genre: California Desert National Conservation Area (Calif.)
ISBN:

Download Desert Harvest Solar Project Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This Environmental Impact Statement addresses the U.S. Bureau of Land Managements (BLM) consideration of issuance of a right-of-way grant to EDF Renewable Energy for the construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning of a 150- megawatt photovoltaic solar energy facility and generation-intertie transmission line (gen-tie line). The project would be located in Riverside County, California, near the unincorporated community of Desert Center on land administered by the BLM. The Environmental Impact Statement analyzes seven solar facility alternatives and five gen-tie line alternatives. The solar facility alternatives are designated as follows: (1) No Action (No Plan Amend-ment), in which the application would be denied and current management of the site would be maintained; (2) the application would be denied and the CDCA Plan would be amended to declare the site suitable for solar energy development; (3) the application would be denied and the CDCA Plan would be amended to declare the site unsuitable for solar energy development; (4) BLM would grant the Applicant a right-of-way (ROW) for the project as proposed; (5) BLM would grant the Applicant a ROW for the project excluding the 47-acre portion of the site that is within the Palen-Ford Wildlife Habitat Management Area; (6) BLM would grant the Applicant a ROW for the project excluding the 155-acre southern parcel of the project and a 9-acre portion of the northern parcel that contains a sensitive plant species; (7) BLM would grant the Applicant a ROW as described under Alternative 6, but with taller solar panels. Gen-tie alternatives are designated as follows: (A) No Gen-Tie, in which the gen-tie line would not be constructed and current management of the site would be maintained; (B) The gen-tie line would be approved and would share transmission towers with the approved Desert Sunlight Solar Farm (DSSF); (C) The gen-tie line would be constructed on separate towers parallel to DSSF towers; (D) The gen-tie line would be constructed in a different, slightly shorter alignment; (E) The gen-tie line would be constructed in a different, slightly shorter alignment on a larger proportion of BLM land than Alternative D. Alternatives 4 through 7 and B through E would require an amendment to the CDCA Plan to find the project area suitable for solar development and allow a high-voltage transmission line outside of a federally designated utility corridor. The proposed project or any of the action alternatives is anticipated to result in substantial adverse effects to air resources from emissions of particulate matter (PM10), volatile organic compounds (VOC), carbon monoxide (CO), and oxides of nitrogen (NOx); substantial adverse effects to biological resources, including vegetation habitat, special-status plants, habitat fragmentation, and displacement of wildlife; adverse effects to historic properties; substantial adverse cumulative effects to lands and realty from large-scale land conversion; substantial adverse noise effects from an increase in traffic-related noise levels along Kaiser Road; and substantial adverse effects to visual resources and recreation, due to degradation of the visual character of the landscape.