Dive Summary:
- Dust storms from First Solar’s new plant site are in violation of air standards, causing regulators to halt construction of the 230-megawatt (MW) Antelope Valley solar plant in North Los Angeles County.
- With 150MW of current capacity, the plant began delivering electricity to the Southern California Edison grid last year.
- But dust storms have led to a multi-car pileup, complaints of respiratory problems, and the closure of the Valley freeway. First Solar must bring the facility into compliance with the Federal Ambient Air Standard to resume construction.
From the article:
“Some sites require more work and some less, in terms of the disturbance of vegetation and topography,” said Williams. “The more vegetation, the more disturbance is necessary to prepare the site for construction and, consequently, more effort is required to manage dust."
