Last December the California Energy Commission preliminarilyrejected Palen – which was switched from parabolic-trough to power-tower CSPtechnology after BrightSource acquired the project from Solar Millennium – onenvironmental and cultural grounds.

But in January the regulator agreed to merely suspend theproject, rather than deny it outright, while BrightSource and Abengoa worked toaddress its outstanding concerns.

Palen Solar Holdings – the project company owned byBrightSource and Abengoa Solar – has now formally requested that the regulatorreopen the evidentiary record on Palen, opening the door for the project to get back on track.

Among