U.S. approves three major renewable energy projects in U.S. West

March 13 (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Wednesday approved three large renewable energy projects - two solar and one wind - in the U.S. West that combined will produce enough energy to power 340,000 homes.

The projects, announced by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at a press conference in San Francisco, include NextEra Energy Inc's 750-megawatt McCoy Solar Energy Project near Blythe, California. When completed, the project would be one of the largest solar developments in the world.

The remaining two projects include the 150-megawatt Desert Harvest Solar Farm proposed by EDF Renewable Energy and the 200 MW Searchlight Wind Energy Project. Searchlight, which is being developed by Duke Energy Corp, will use Siemens wind turbines.

Both solar projects will use photovoltaic solar panels.