The US Department of the Interior through the Bureau of Land Management has given final approval to the $550 million Crimson solar-storage project in southern California, Kallanish reports.

Sonoran West Solar Holdings plans to construct a 350-megawatt solar photovoltaic facility with a 350 MW energy storage system and related equipment on 809 hectares of public lands about 20.9 kilometres from Blythe, California, in Riverside County. The project will be able to deliver enough electricity to power 87,500 houses.

The company, a subsidiary of California-based Recurrent Energy LLC - which is a unit of Canadian Solar - will deliver the power through Southern California Edison’s Colorado River substation.

BLM has issued a record of decision for the project. It is one of the first projects of its kind to be approved by the Biden administration as it pushes green energy. The project lies within an area designated for renewable development under a federal-state Desert Renewable Conservation Plan.

The project will create 650 construction jobs, 10 permanent jobs and 40 temporary jobs in operations and maintenance over the 30-year life of the project.