The Desert Sunlight Solar Farm is a 550-

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

(MW_AC) photovoltaic power station approximately six miles north of Desert Center,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

. It was made by the US thin-film manufacturer First Solar. It has the same 550 MW installed capacity as the Topaz Solar Farm in the Carrizo Plain region of Central California, making both of them tied for the second largest completed solar plants by installed capacity as of fall 2015.FirstSolar.co
Desert Sunlight Solar Farm
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Project details

The project was built on over of creosote bush-dominated desert habitat near Desert Center next to

Joshua Tree National Park Joshua Tree National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, US National Park located in southeastern California, straddling north-central Riverside County, California, Riverside County and part of southern San Bernardino County, ...

. Construction began in September 2011 and final completion was in January 2015. A 230 MW and 920 MWh (4-hour)

battery storage power station A battery energy storage system (BESS), battery storage power station, battery energy grid storage (BEGS) or battery grid storage is a type of energy storage technology that uses a group of batteries in the grid to store electrical energy. Batte ...

was added in 2022.

Electricity production

References

{{Solar power in the United States Solar power in the Mojave Desert Solar power stations in California Buildings and structures in Riverside County, California Desert Center, California Energy infrastructure completed in 2015 2015 establishments in California NextEra Energy

Project details

Electricity production

See also

References