Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One: The Solar Power Plant That Could

By Herman K. Trabish | Greentech Media | Link to article

The 230-megawatt (AC) solar power plant continues to rise from the desert floor.

Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One (AVSR1), an enormous 230-megawatt (AC) solar power plant, continues to rise from the desert floor, despite obstacles coming from many directions. First Solar continues to provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for Exelon and has said the project is 28 percent complete and on track for inauguration of its first phase in September.

200 of the 350 people who will eventually be employed to build the project have been placed in full-time jobs, and almost two-thirds of those jobs have gone to people from nearby communities in and around the Antelope Valley, where unemployment for the largely working-class population has approached fifteen percent during the recession.

Over a quarter of a million dollars in purchase orders are out with local vendors, a local dirt moving company continues to do major hauling, and employee lunches are being bought daily from three local venues that were notoriously quiet before the arrival of the AVSR1 project.

(complete article)