Mountain View Solar Energy Farm, Cultural Resources

UltraSystems prepared a cultural resource study for a proposed solar project located within the City of Palm Springs in Riverside County, California.  The ultimate goal of this study was to identify potential cultural resources properties within the project area, and supplement or update information from previous inventories. The project site was located adjacent to, and south of the Interstate 10 right-of-way, approximately 1-mile east of the State Route 62 exit.

The project proposed by AES consisted of developing a 15 MW photovoltaic solar energy farm to be co-located on the site of its existing wind-energy facility. The solar collectors will eventually cover approximately 25-acres of a 70-acre site. Existing structures on the site include a row of 10 wind turbine towers, two electrical substations, and a utility/storage area surrounded by a chain link fence.  The planned solar collectors will utilize thin-film PV panels in fixed arrays facing toward the south. The panels are dark in color (near black) with no mirrored surfaces and very little reflected glare. The total height of the collectors and support structures will be approximately 15-feet.