Construction of the Palen Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project is expected to employ 600 to 1,200 people.
The single tower would generate as much as 250 megawatts, enough electricity to serve about 100,000 homes during the peak hours of the day, according to company estimates.
Construction of the Palen Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project is expected to employ 600 to 1,200 people. It would employ as many as 100 Inland Empire boilermakers to work at a union rate of $41 per hour.
Construction of the Palen Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project is expected to employ 600 to 1,200 people. It would employ as many as 100 Inland Empire boilermakers to work at a union rate of $41 per hour.
Local 92 members also built the boilers at the three solar towers at BrightSource's Ivanpah project off Interstate 15 in northeastern San Bernardino County near the Nevada border.
A California Energy Commission committee is recommending approval of the Palen concentrating solar thermal project, which would put a 750-foot “power tower” hovering above about 85,000 mirrors on almost 6 square miles north of Interstate 10 about halfway between Indio and Blythe.
If the full commission OKs the project as expected at its Oct. 29 meeting, Palen would be the eighth large-scale solar plant approved for Inland deserts. Three of those plants already are producing electricity.
These projects have been hailed for creating thousands of jobs and generating carbon-free electricity needed to reduce climate change.
The Palen project would employ a sea of mirrors on the ground focusing heat onto a boiler mounted on top of the tower. The boiler heats water to make steam, which then turns a turbine to make electricity.
“We believe concentrating solar thermal technology can play an important role in helping California achieve its long-term clean energy goals,” said Jennifer Rigney, a spokeswoman for BrightSource Energy, a partner in the Palen project.
“We are encouraged by the committee’s proposed decision,” she said.
The Palen project’s single tower would generate as much as 250 megawatts, which is enough electricity to serve about 100,000 homes during the peak hours of the day, according to company estimates.
Construction of Palen is expected to employ between 600 and 1,200 people, according to a commission statement.
“This is really good news,” said Oscar S. Davila, president of Colton-based Boilermakers Local 92.
The Palen project would employ as many as 100 Inland Empire boilermakers to work at a union rate of $41 per hour, Davila said.
Local 92 members also built the boilers at the three solar towers at BrightSource’s Ivanpah project off Interstate 15 in northeastern San Bernardino County near the Nevada border.
The Ivanpah project started operations at the beginning of this year.
It cost $2.1 billion, and was funded mostly with $1.6 billion in loans guaranteed by the federal government. About 2,600 people worked at the site during the peak of construction; the number of permanent jobs is about 65.
termosolar, Concentrated Solar Power, Concentrating Solar Power, CSP, BrightSource Energy, California Energy Commission, storage, Concentrated Solar Thermal Power, Solar Millennium, BrightSource Energy, solar power, solar energy, California, BrightSource, Abengoa, tower, Palen