US approves $6bn solar project

The US government has approved a 1,000-megawatt solar project on land in southern California, the largest planned on publicly-owned lands.

The €6.3bn (€4.5bn) Blythe Solar Power Project in the Mojave Desert near Blythe, California, is the sixth such development approved this month – all in California or Nevada. Approval of a seventh project, also in California, is expected in the next few weeks.

At full capacity, the seven projects would generate more than 3,000 megawatts of power, provide electricity for up to two million homes and create more than 2,000 construction jobs and several hundred permanent posts.