Siting committee says yes to 709MW solar dish project

The 28,000 SunCatcher solar dishes that Tessera Solar plans to spread across the California desert as part of its Imperial Valley Solar project would have benefits outweighing the expected significant impacts on environmental and cultural resources, according to the state siting committee reviewing the project.

A California Energy Commission (CEC) siting committee also determined that the project “complies with all other applicable laws, ordinances, regulations, and standards”.

The committee, reviewing the project since June 2008, supports a 709MW version of the project, which is preferred by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the federal agency reviewing Imperial Valley because it would be built on 6,476 acres (26.2sq