If Spanish multinational corporation Abengoa gets the go-ahead to build a massive solar project in California’s Mojave Desert, it could bring significant job growth to the state.

The California Energy Commission recommended approval of the project Aug. 6. If approved, Abengoa has said it could start construction late this year and start commercial service by early 2013.

The Mojave project, in addition to generating enough energy to power 90,000 homes, could create upwards of 1,200 construction jobs and 80 permanent ones.

Abengoa, a company known for its successful solar projects throughout the world, got a boost here in the United States last month when President Barack Obama pledged a conditional $1.45 billion to its Solana project near Gila billion Bend, Ariz.

That project is expected to create more than 1,000 new jobs along with supplying energy to about 70,000 homes and reducing CO2 emissions by 475,000 tons per year.

That project differs some from the one proposed in California. The Arizona project will use a molten salt thermal energy storage system to collect up to six hours of energy and feed it constantly to the grid, allowing the project to serve the area’s energy needs even in cloudy periods and after sunset.

The program in the Mojave would use parabolic trough technology to trap the sun’s energy and use it to boil a heat transfer fluid to power steam generators.

Pacific Gas & Electric has already agreed to buy power from the Mojave project if it’s approved.

Both projects promise to generate significant job growth both in the short and long term. Along with establishing the solar project in Arizona, Abengoa plans to open a mirror plant, creating more than 180 permanent jobs.

"After years of watching companies build things and create jobs overseas,” President Obama said in a news conference last month, “it's good news that we've attracted a company to our shores to build a plant and create jobs here in America.”