By Kari Williamson

“The Rio Mesa project will create thousands of jobs, and contribute hundreds of millions in economic benefits for Riverside County and the State of California, all while producing clean and reliable electricity for 300,000 California homes,” says Stephen Wiley, Senior Vice President of U.S. Project Development, BrightSource Energy.

“This project will showcase BrightSource’s world-class solar thermal technology, and reflects our continued commitment to setting the bar for environmentally responsible solar power plant development.”

The three 250 MW solar thermal power plants will each have its own solar field and solar power tower.

The Rio Mesa solar thermal project Could create approximately 2500 construction jobs at the peak of construction and approximately 150 operations and maintenance jobs. In addition to direct employment benefits, construction of the Rio Mesa project is projected to inject over US$800 million into the local economy.