The US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has progressed nine hybrid solar and storage facilities located across the states of Nevada and Arizona.
The BLM administers over 245 million acres of federal land in the US for a variety of purposes including renewable energy development, livestock grazing and outdoor activities such as camping. The total land under management by the BLM is more than any other US government agency and makes up approximately 10% of the country’s land base.
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At final buildout, the nine projects have the potential to house 6.2GW of BESS capacity with up to 7.17GW of co-located solar across 124,500 acres of public land managed by the BLM.
Esmeralda 7 Solar – 5.2GW of BESS capacity
Central to the recent announcement is the issuance of a Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Resource Management Plan Amendment for a group of seven hybrid solar and BESS facilities located in Esmeralda County, Nevada, known collectively as the Esmeralda 7 Solar development, which is now subject to a 45-day public comment period.
Publication of this document is an important first step for the Bureau of Land Management which will use it, along with any comments received, to conduct individual environmental analysis for each of the seven projects. The BLM will then use this information to decide whether or not to grant each development a right-of-way (ROW) authorisation, allowing for the construction and operation of the hybrid facilities.
Details of the Esmeralda projects currently under BLM review can be found in the table below:
| Project name | Developer | Project Subsidiary | BESS output (MW) | Solar PV capacity (MW) | Acreage |
| Lone Mountain Solar | Leeward Renewable Energy | US Solar Assets, LLC | 500 | 1,000 | 8,350 |
| Nivloc Solar | Invenergy | Nivloc Solar Energy, LLC | 500 | 500 | 8,280 |
| Smokey Valley Solar | ConnectGen | CG Western Renewables III, LLC | 1,000 | 1,000 | 4,890 |
| Red Ridge 1 Solar | Avantus | 335ES 8me, LLC | 600 | 600 | 6,190 |
| Red Ridge 2 Solar | Avantus | 335ES 8me, LLC | 600 | 600 | 6,860 |
| Esmerelda Energy Center | NextEra Energy Resources | Boulevard Associates, LLC | 1,000 | 1,000 | 8,360 |
| Gold Dust Solar | Arevia Power | Gold Dust Solar, LLC | 1,000 | 1,500 | 16,720 |
Each project is expected to connect to the local electricity grid through NV Energy’s Esmeralda substation, via the utility’s Greenlink West 525 kV transmission line that has yet to be built.
Construction on each project is expected to take 18-36 months, and the full buildout of all projects is expected to be complete within five years of receiving BLM approval.
700MW of lithium iron phosphate battery storage
In the last month, the BLM has also published a final EIS for Leeward Renewable Energy’s Libra Solar facility which is set to comprise a 700MW BESS co-located with a 700MW solar farm located across 5,100 acres of land in Mineral and Lyon Counties, Nevada.
The BLM will decide whether to grant a ROW for Leeward’s Libra development after the document’s 30-day availability period ends on August 26 2024.
Leeward is expected to utilise 3.7-hour duration lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery packs for its Libra project, although the developer has stated it will use the “best technology” available at the time of construction. Leeward is expected to break ground on the project at the end of this year.
Arevia Power’s Elisabeth project
Arevia Power has also witnessed progress with another one of its projects, after the BLM issued a draft environmental assessment (EA) for the developer’s Elisabeth Solar facility located in Yuma County, Arizona.
The Bureau of Land Management is holding a virtual public meeting on 14 August 2024 to discuss the EA, and expects to make a decision on whether to grant the developer a ROW authorization in November this year.
It’s anticipated that Arevia Power will utilise lithium-ion technology for the 300MW BESS at the Elisabeth facility that will be co-located with a 270MWac solar farm.
Region home to ‘US’ largest co-located, single phase solar-plus-storage project’
The southwestern portion of the US is home to some of the country’s largest renewable developments, with this recent announcement from the BLM showing that this isn’t set to change anytime soon.
Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners and Primergy Energy recently announced that its Gemini solar-plus-storage project in Nevada had been brought online, covered in Energy-Storage.News during July.
A spokesperson from the companies told Energy-Storage.News that the development is the “largest co-located, single phase solar plus storage project” operating in the US.
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