The Mojave Solar project, which is located in the high desert 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles, will be constructed on private, disturbed land near Harper Dry Lake, where there is an already existing solar plant. According to a report released from the Department of Energy, construction on the project is expected to create more than 830 construction jobs and 70 operating jobs. Abengoa Solar CEO Scott Frier has previously been quoted saying he expects to begin construction before Sept. 30 of this year. 

BrightSouce Energy and Bechtel resumed construction last week on two units of the Ivanpah solar facility where work was halted in April after surveys found a much larger number of threatened desert tortoises than expected. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service issued a revised biological opinion on the project and the Bureau of Land Management gave a notice for the entire project to proceed last week. Construction on unit 1, the common area, and the power block area for unit 2 had continued after the April order.

BrightSource spokesman Keely Wachs said Friday that construction has resumed on fencing activities and desert tortoise activities for units 2 and 3. The project is still on-schedule to go online in 2013.

BrightSource president and CEO John Woolard says he is pleased to move forward with the next phase of construction at Ivanpah. “We look forward to hiring more workers, giving them good jobs, and to providing clean, reliable and cost-effective solar power at a meaningful scale.”