The U.S. Department of the Interior recently announced that its Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is promoting nine photovoltaic projects with a total capacity of 6GW. Once completed, the electricity generated will be enough for approximately 2 million American households.

BLM manages more than 2.45 million acres of public lands, mainly in 12 western states including Alaska. To date, BLM has approved more than 25 GW of clean energy projects, enough to power about 12 million homes. These projects include solar, wind and geothermal projects, as well as power transmission lines connecting clean energy generation projects on federal and non-federal lands.

The latest round of projects promoted by the BLM includes the Esmerelda 7 project, which has a total scale of 5.35GW and is one of the largest photovoltaic projects in the world. When completed, it will be enough to provide energy for about 1.6 million households. The project includes 7 photovoltaic + energy storage projects located near Tonopah, Nevada, and is expected to cover an area of 118,000 acres.

The BLM is now conducting a 45-day evaluation period on the draft environmental impact report and resource management plan for Esmerelda 7. The environmental impact report will provide the basis for individual environmental analysis for each project, after which the BLM will decide whether to grant the right of way for some or all the projects.

In addition to Esmerelda 7, there is a 700 MW photovoltaic + 700 MW energy storage project planned to be developed in Minor County and Leon County, Nevada, with a 24-mile-long power transmission line.

As of July 2024, the BLM is promoting another 70 utility-scale new energy projects in the Western United States, with a total scale of approximately 32 GW. In addition, the BLM has begun preliminary review of approximately 166 solar and wind project development applications and more than 40 solar and wind project field testing applications.

Source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/XGSb5TEfXq2Mv7wjmwb3jA