FROM TANK POWER TO SOLAR POWER

Gen. Patton's WWII training center to become solar plant; Energy Commission releases recommendation for approval.
K. Kaufman, November 12, 2010 (The Desert Sun)

"The stretch of the Colorado Desert that Gen. George S. Patton used to train soldiers for desert combat during World War II may soon become a solar plant. The California Energy Commission…released a proposed recommendation for approval of the project, which would put a 150-megawatt solar thermal plant on the site, located about 40 miles northwest of Blythe.

"SolarReserve LLC of Santa Monica is the project developer. [The commission’s report recommending approval of the project is here.]

Example of the solar power tower technology to be used for the Rice project. (click to enlarge)

"During the war, from 1942-1944, the 1,410-acre project site was home to Rice Army Air Field and a portion of Camp Rice, which part of Patton's Desert Training Center, used to prepare American soldiers for combat in the North African desert…[Little] remains of the training center on the site…"

Schematic of the solar energy storage concept. (click to enlarge)

"…[T]he proposed approval begins a 30-day comment period, with a final vote by the commission possible as early as Dec. 15…If approved, the Rice project would be the third industrial-sized solar project built in or near the Riverside East solar zone, about 202,000 acres of public land located between Joshua Tree National Park and Blythe.

"The project, which is mostly on private land, also needs approval from the Bureau of Land Management because a transmission line for the solar plant will cross public land…"