A planned 1,000 MW Blythe solar facility received a power boost of sorts from a major energy broker as the U.S. Department of Energy announced it finalized a $2.1 billion loan guarantee for the project. “This is the largest amount offered to a solar project through the loans program office,” U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said April 18. “And it’s another sign that California’s at the center of a growing solar industry.” The money’s intended to go toward construction of the first two units of the project, consisting of a combined 484 MW of generating capacity, as well as an eight-mile transmission line and related infrastructure. Blythe, which was approved by the California Energy Commission in September 2010, is designed to ultimately be comprised of four identical solar plants of 250 MW each. It is to be located on about 9,400 acres of unincorporated land in eastern Riverside County, near the Arizona border on public land. It’s being developed by a U.S. subsidiary of Solar Millennium, Solar Trust of America. All its electricity output is planned to be sold to Southern California Edison, and the power delivered into the California Independent System Operator grid. “By the time we’re done, the 1,000 MW Blythe facility will generate more concentrated solar power than all of the concentrated solar power plants operating in the world today combined,” Solar Trust of America chair and chief executive officer Uwe Schmidt said. “The sheer scale of Blythe will provide a significant economic impact throughout the country.” Construction on the site started last fall, Schmidt said, but to date, only preliminary work like the paving of access roads has been performed. “We will start full-scale construction likely in about late spring, early summer,” he said. Although the $2.1 billion for Blythe Solar is one of the larger DOE loan guarantees issued, it’s just one of a few so far this month. Last week, a $1.2 billion loan guarantee for SunPower’s 250 MW photovoltaic California Valley Solar Ranch slated for Carrizo Plains in San Luis Obispo was announced. Also last week, $1.6 billion was earmarked for BrightSource Energy’s 370 MW Ivanpah solar thermal project, which is under construction in the Mojave Desert. “We really appreciate the confidence in the investment,” Gov. Jerry Brown said. “We’ve got a lot of sun to harness, and we need the technology, the capital and the regulatory encouragement.”