It’s been a long, hard road for the Federal Government and the California Energy Commission(CEC) in gaining enough public support and financial backing to move forward with the Ivanpah Solar Project — a 392-megawatt (MW) solar thermal plant to be built in California’s Mojave Desert. Scale back in size from the original plan, environmental setbacks, commission approval and public comments are just a few of the hurdles cleared along the path to construction.

The proposed Crossroads Solar Energy Project in Mariposa County, Arizona is one step closer to construction today after SolarReserve — the Los Angeles, Califoornia-based utility-scale solar project developer — earned two Certificates of Environmental Compatability (CEC) from the Arizona Power Plant and Transmition Line Siting Committee.

The latest approval came yesterday as Federal regulators approved the 250-megawatt (MW) Genesis Solar Energy Project to be built on desert land in southeastern California a mere 25 miles of where the Blythe project will be built.

The California Energy Commission has approved Tessera Solar’s 663.5-megawatt (MW) solar thermal plant to be built in SoCal’s San Bernardino County.

According to CBS3 in Springfield, Massachusetts, the plant will go live at the end of the 2010 calendar year. At 1.8 megawatts (MW) of solar capacity, the plant will serve 300 homes in the service area of the Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECO).

Sarnia Solar facility – with a capacity of 80-megawatts (MW) – is sitting in Ontario, Canada just above Michigan’s northern border.

Now SunEdison is at it again, recently installing a 1-megawatt (MW) solar plant in Pima County in southern Arizona that will generate over 2 million kWh of solar power each year.

Solar thermal poster child Ausra Inc. is up for sale, sources reported recently.

Environmentalists and solar power developers are at odds over the benefits of building large solar power generation plants in the desert.