Mojave Desert Southeast of Death Valley National Park
August 22, 2011 - Pacific Wind Development LLC, a subsidiary of Iberdrola Renewables, is requesting a right-of-way (ROW) grant to construct a wind energy generation facility with a maximum generating capacity of 200 megawatts (MW) in northeastern San Bernardino County, California. The proposed Silurian Valley Wind Energy project is within a 29,041 -acre ROW on federal land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) within the Barstow Field Office. The project would have 80 to 133 Wind Turbine Generators, up to 480 feet tall each. A new 115 or 230 kilovolt transmission line would need to be built for 10 miles to connect to the Baker substation.
The proposed project is in a remote creosote-filled basin with playas located north of Baker, along Highway 127, south of Dumont Dunes. The project is on the boundary of both the Hollow Hills and Kingston Range Wilderness Areas.
Download the Plan of Development - 12.6 MB PDF.
18,000,000 gallons of water would be needed for cement making during constrcuction for foundations, and the water may come from on site.
The region around the project site supports Desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), Burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia), and other sensitive species are potentially in the area. Mohave ground squirrel (Xerospermophilus mohavensis) may possibly live in the region. The rare plant Small-flowered androstephium (Androstephium breviflorum) has been mapped in the area.
^Meteorological tower at the proposed project site in Silurian Valley.
^Near the Silurian Valley wind project area is Silver Lake, normally a dry playa but this spring heavy rains filled it. The temporary lake attracted numerous waterbirds, including American white pelicans.
