The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is inviting public feedback on the draft environmental assessment for a proposed solar project with a capacity of up to 117 megawatts (MW) to be installed on public lands in Riverside County, California.
The agency announced that public comments will be accepted until November 4, with plans to hold an in-person public meeting on October 23 and a virtual meeting the following day.
The proposed Sapphire photovoltaic (PV) park is slated to occupy approximately 40 acres of public land in eastern Riverside County. The project is being developed by EDF Renewables Development Inc., which entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) in March 2023 with the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) for the solar farm's output.
Once operational, the solar facility is expected to generate around 375,800 megawatt-hours (MWh) of clean energy annually, enough to power over 58,000 local homes.
The project is scheduled to come online by the end of December 2026 and will be complemented by a battery energy storage system with a capacity of 59 MW and 236 MWh.
As of September 2024, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has approved the installation of approximately 29 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy parks on public lands, marking significant progress in the nation's shift toward clean energy initiatives.
