Antelope Valley in southern California is the western part of the Mojave Desert. The San Gabriel Mountains and the Tehachapi Mountains give the valley a triangular shape. The southern edge of the valley is the San Andreas Fault.
While farming is going on in the valley in the more traditional sense, with irrigated fields showing up as bright green circles or rectangles in these Landsat images, farming of a different kind is also going on. With average annual wind speeds of 14 to 20 miles per hour and plenty of clear, sunny days, this part of the desert is on the cutting edge of wind and solar power.
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