And this is no British fantasy comedy, but the largest solar project ever to be built on U.S. public land.  A $6 billion solar power project has been approved by the Obama administration.  It is the start of a boom in solar power on federal lands.  This project will be built in the Mojave Desert near Blythe, California.  “Today is a day that makes me excited about the nation’s future,” (Ken) Salazar said Monday at a news conference. “This project shows in a real way how harnessing our own renewable resources can create good jobs here at home.”

The Blythe Project, being developed by Solar Millennium, a German solar developer, is slated for more than 7,000 acres of public land near the Arizona border, some 225 miles east of Los Angeles.  According to Rachel Rossitto at www.tonic.com, this project alone will be generate 1,000 megawatts of power, is expected to take care of more than 300,000 homes as well as hire 1,066 workers during construction and create 295 permanent positions. The project is the sixth solar power development approved by the Interior Department this month – all in California and Nevada. Approval of a seventh project - also in California – is expected in the next few weeks. All could start transmitting electricity by the end of 2011 or early 2012.  At full capacity, the seven projects would generate more than 3,000 megawatts of power and provide electricity for up to 2 million homes.

The bureau opened federally owned lands in 2005 to solar development, but an examination of records and interviews of officials by The Associated Press showed the program operated a first-come, first-served leasing system that quickly overwhelmed its small staff and enabled companies, regardless of solar industry experience, to squat on land without any real plans to develop it.  To expedite environmental review and bureaucratic red tape, the Interior Department identified 14 of the most promising solar projects among the more than 180 current permit applications covering about 23 million acres of federally owned desert in the Southwest.  Those 14 “fast-track” projects alone would produce more than 6,000 megawatts, enough to power 4 million homes for a day at peak usage, officials said.

Final approval by the end of the year qualifies the solar projects for federal funds under the economic stimulus law approved last year. Solar Millennium is eligible to secure $1.9 billion in conditional loan guarantees from the Energy Department for the Blythe project.

And looking beyond the traditional boundaries of a project, the company will be required to mitigate the project’s effect on more than 8,000 acres of habitat for the desert tortoise, western burrowing owl, bighorn sheep and Mojave fringe-toed lizard, as part of an agreement with federal officials.

There are a couple of pertinent Green Project Management principles that come out of this announcement.  It is clearly a “Green by Intent” project and for sure part of the “Green Wave” of environmental awareness.  Additionally, it has the important element of considering what happens beyond the traditional deliverable of the output of the project.   While we applaud the green power initiative, we are just as excited about the green project management elements the project displays.