The US BLM has issued a right-of-way (ROW) for the Dry Lake East Energy Center Solar Project, a new solar and battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Clark County, Nevada.
Located in the Dry Lake East Designated Leasing Area, the project is designed to generate up to 200MW of solar power and provide up to 600MW of BESS reliability for the Nevada grid through the Harry Allen Substation.
The development includes an approximately three-mile generation-tie transmission line that would be co-located with existing transmission lines from the on-site project substation to the existing Harry Allen Substation.
The site covers 1,635 acres and is located ten miles north-east of Las Vegas on public lands managed by the BLM.
Since initiating the plans and environmental assessment in 2018, the BLM solicited public comments and consulted with local, state and federal agencies as well as tribal governments before issuing the ROW to Boulevard Associates. The company will construct, operate, maintain and decommission the Dry Lake East Energy Center Solar Project.
BLM Las Vegas field manager Bruce Sillitoe commented: “This will contribute to a clean energy economy for Nevada and the nation and create new job opportunities for local communities.”
Another key energy project in Nevada is the Reid Gardner BESS in Moapa, one of the largest in the state with a capacity of 220MW. Commercial operation started in April, led by Energy Vault and NV Energy.
In April, the Department of the Interior announced that it has permitted 25GW of clean energy projects including solar, wind, geothermal and gen-ties (transmission lines that cross public lands to connect renewable energy projects on private lands to the grid).
As of July, an additional 70 utility-scale clean energy proposals are being processed by the BLM across the western US, with the potential to produce more than 32GW of renewable energy.
The agency has begun the preliminary review of nearly 170 applications for solar and wind development and more than 40 applications for solar and wind energy site testing.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states.
