Qualla: Desert Sunlight Solar Farm

Desert Sunlight Solar Farm: Introduction

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Department of the Interior, CC BY-SA 2.0. Six square miles of photovoltaic panels spread across the floor of the Colorado Desert, east of Joshua Tree and south of Interstate 10, where the Mojave's elevation has finally given way to the lower, hotter terrain near Desert Center. The Desert Sunlight Solar Farm generates 550 megawatts. On a clear desert day — and there are many of them — the array is visible from altitude as a dark, grid-patterned rectangle against the pale alluvial plain.

Image: U.S. Department of the Interior | CC BY-SA 2.0

Desert Sunlight Solar Farm: First Solar Builds in the Desert

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Department of the Interior, CC BY-SA 2.0. First Solar, the American thin-film solar manufacturer, built the Desert Sunlight facility using its cadmium telluride panel technology. Construction proceeded across the flat terrain near Desert Center, a small community along Interstate 10 between Palm Springs and the Arizona b...

Image: U.S. Department of the Interior | CC BY-SA 2.0

Desert Sunlight Solar Farm: Battery Storage Arrives

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bureau of Land Management California, Public domain. Solar generation has a timing problem: panels produce power when the sun shines, which does not always align with when electricity is most needed. The solution — battery storage — came to Desert Sunlight in stages. In 2022, a 530-megawatt, 2,120-megawatt-hour battery storage syst...

Image: Bureau of Land Management California | Public domain

Desert Sunlight Solar Farm: Ownership and the Desert Floor

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Department of the Interior, CC BY-SA 2.0. The facility is owned by a consortium that includes NextEra Energy, Clearway Energy, and the California Public Employees' Retirement System — CalPERS, the pension fund for California state workers. The presence of a public pension fund among the owners reflects how thoroughly lar...

Image: U.S. Department of the Interior | CC BY-SA 2.0