In yet another huge move for solar power in California and the United States, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued a draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed 550 megawatt (MW) Desert Sunlight Solar Farm. If approved, it will likely be the world’s largest photovoltaic installation.

The document was issued on Aug. 27, 2010, and BLM is accepting public comments on it for 90 days before moving forward.

First Solar’s proposed plant would be near Palm Springs, Calif., in the Sonoran Desert and would power about 170,000 homes. The company already entered into a power-purchase agreement with Southern California Edison (SCE) for the energy provided by the proposed installation.

CEA has covered a lot of the solar development in California lately, but the scope and speed at which all of this is happening warrants such coverage. In all, more than 4 gigawatts (GWs) of solar power are nearing final approval and construction on some of these projects could begin this year. These projects dwarf the world’s largest operating solar installation. The largest PV installation, in Spain, is only 60 MWs and the largest concentrated-solar power installation is the 350 MW, nine plant Solar Energy Generating System (SEGS) in California.

The draft statement is an important step in development of such projects, particularly when they’re on federally-managed lands. Before the issue is taken up at the state level, the BLM must approve the project.

The farm is proposed for a 4,245 acre plot about 6 miles north of the Desert Center community in the Colorado Desert, part of the Sonoran Desert. The project is proposed on land that’s not recently disturbed by humans. A scientific committee that advises the government has recommended such plants be located only on previously disturbed lands, according to The Solar Home & Business Journal.

However, the proposed site also is near existing transmission lines; two electric substations; a Colorado River pumping station, which pumps water to Los Angeles; an abandoned iron ore mine, which could be converted to a dump for Los Angeles; and an abandoned town that could be resurrected.

There is only one other larger proposed PV project in California. It’s the Maricopa Sun Solar Complex Project, which if built would be 700 MWs. At this point the California Energy Commission doesn’t have any updates on that project’s progress.