Solar Trust of America has been offered a conditional commitment for a $2.1bn loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy (DOE) for the construction of two solar thermal plants in California, US.

The two plants of 242MW each form the first phase of Solar Trust’s 1,000 MW Blythe Solar power project in Riverside County.

The project will use parabolic trough concentrating solar thermal technology and will generate electricity sufficient to power more than 300,000 homes and reduce one million tons of carbon dioxide per year.

Once complete, the Blythe Solar power project will deliver 10% of the federal Energy Policy Act of 2005’s 10GW goal for renewable energy generation on public lands by 2015.