According to the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proceeding with nine solar projects on public lands to potentially power nearly 2 million homes with clean energy.
The projects will support President Biden’s aim to create a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035.
The decision backs the Department’s announcement of permitting BLM for more than 25 GW of clean energy projects, enough clean energy to power more than 12 million homes across the country. This includes solar, wind and geothermal projects, as well as gen-tie lines on public lands to connect clean electricity projects on both federal and non-federal land to the grid.
“The Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to sustainable development means that we are protecting our natural and cultural resources while moving quickly towards our nation’s clean energy goals,” said BLM Director, Tracy Stone-Manning. “As we continue to review clean energy projects, we are committed to collaborating with states, Tribes and stakeholders to ensure that we are building lasting opportunities to create jobs and stimulate the clean energy economy.
Esmeralda 7 solar project includes seven proposed utility scale solar facilities with battery energy storage systems on approximately 118,000 acres of BLM-managed public lands near Tonopah, Nevada.
The BLM is opening a 45-day public comment period on the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement and Resource Management Plan Amendment for the project. The BLM’s programmatic environmental impact statement will provide the foundation for individual environmental analyses of each project for the BLM to grant rights-of-way for some or all of the projects.
On receiving approval for all the proposed projects, they are anticipated to have the capacity to generate 5.35 GW of clean electricity, enough to power roughly 1.6 million homes.
The BLM also published the final environmental impact statement for the proposed 5,100-acre Libra solar project in Mineral and Lyon Counties, Nevada. If approved, the project is expected to include a 700 MW solar energy facility, a 700 MW BESS, and a 24-mile-long generation tie-line. The project will generate and store enough clean energy to power more than 212,000 homes.
The BLM is opening a 30-day public comment period on a draft environmental assessment for the Elisabeth solar project near Dateland, Arizona, located on 1,400 acres approximately 65 miles east of the City of Yuma within the Agua Caliente Solar Energy Zone. The project is predicted to produce up to 270 MW of clean electricity and up to 300 MW of battery storage upon receiving approval.
An additional 70 utility-scale clean energy projects are under process by the BLM throughout the western U.S., as of July 2024, which are anticipated to produce almost 32 GW of renewable energy. BLM has also begun the preliminary review of approximately 166 applications for solar and wind development, as well as more than 40 applications for solar and wind energy site testing.
