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The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is progressing nine solar projects on public lands in Nevada and Arizona, including the 5.35-GW Esmeralda 7 proposal covering seven solar facilities with battery storage.
Esmeralda 7 is located on 118,000 acres (47,773 ha) of BLM-managed public lands near Tonopah in Nevada. The BLM said last week it is opening a 45-day public comment period on the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement and Resource Management Plan Amendment for Esmeralda 7. The programmatic environmental impact statement would serve as the basis for environmental analyses of each project. After these reviews, the BLM would decide whether to grant rights-of-way for some or all of the projects.
In addition, the BLM published the final environmental impact statement for the Libra solar project in Mineral and Lyon Counties, Nevada, which would include 700 MW of solar capacity, a 700-MW battery and a 24-mile-long generation tie-line.
The BLM is further opening a 30-day public comment period on a draft environmental assessment for the Elisabeth solar project, which combines up to 270 MW of solar power and up to 300 MW of battery storage, near Dateland, Arizona.
According to the BLM, the nine projects together could power nearly 2 million homes, aligning with President Biden’s goal of a carbon-free power sector by 2035.
Source: Renewables Now
