BLM eyes multiproject solar proposal north of Las Vegas

By Scott Streater | 05/06/2024 01:19 PM EDT

If it moves forward, the proposal would be the second large-scale project under consideration by the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada’s Esmeralda County.

DRY LAKE VALLEY, NEVADA - JUNE 28:  Transmission towers stand behind rows of solar panels at the 100-megawatt MGM Resorts Mega Solar Array after it was launched on June 28, 2021 in Dry Lake Valley, Nevada. The project sits on 640 acres of desert about 30 miles north of the Las Vegas Strip in the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone. Its 323,000 7-by-3-foot solar panels are forecast to generate about 300,000 megawatt-hours - about 35 percent of MGM's annual electricity use in Las Vegas - making it the hospitality industry's largest directly sourced renewable electricity project in the world. All the solar power generated is scheduled for use by MGM Resorts. On hot summer or spring days, the array can produce up to 90 percent of the daytime power needs of MGM's 13 Las Vegas properties which is equivalent to the power used by about 27,000 average U.S. homes annually.  (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Transmission towers stand behind rows of solar panels at the 100-megawatt MGM Resorts Mega Solar Array after it was launched on June 28, 2021, in Dry Lake Valley, Nevada. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Solar developers have targeted a large swath of sparse federal land northwest of Las Vegas to build a cluster of large-scale projects that could power hundreds of thousands of homes but has raised concern about potential impacts to wildlife habitat and native plants.

The Bureau of Land Management has not yet launched a formal review of the photovoltaic solar projects — collectively known as the “Coaldale Solar Project “— proposed to cover nearly 40 square miles of federal lands in southwest Nevada’s Esmeralda County.

The three projects — Candelaria Solar, Esmeralda North and Cathedral Solar — would have a total capacity to produce 3,000 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power close to 2 million homes.

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Douglas Furtado, manger of BLM’s Battle Mountain District, said the projects “would significantly contribute to Nevada’s renewable energy portfolio,” as well as the Biden administration goal of increased renewable energy development on federal lands in the West.

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