Happy Monday!
Did anyone hear about this
announcement last week the U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) announced in a news release titled, “Biden-Harris administration
Hold Record-Breaking Auction for Solar Energy Development – Projects from $105
million auction could produce nearly 3 gigawatts of clean energy”? BLM had
an auction for utility-scale solar energy development in Neveda for acreage in
the Amargosa Desert which broke records for this kind of clean energy. This auction is an example of the BLM’s
dedication to find areas for high solar promise and low resource problems to shepherd
in a dutiful way the advancement of solar projects, streamline permitting, and
provide assurance to developers. The Amargosa Valley Solar Energy Zone was one
of seventeen areas the BLM located back in the 2012 blueprint for
renewable solar power in six of the western states which is now being
considered for revising and expanding their plan to further promote advancement
of solar projects. Of the four up for auction
parcels of public land two provisional preferred applicants for leases went NV
Energy, Inc which placed the high bid in the Amargosa Valley Solar Energy Zone for
parcels A & B a total of 7,226 acres for a combined bid of $81.85
million. The other two parcels outside
of the designated area for preferred applicants went to Boulevard Associates,
LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, their winning
bid was $21 million for rights to turn in a renewable solar project for 10,129-acres
(Parcel 1), and Silver Star Solar I, LLC a subsidiary of Leeward Renewable
Energy, winning bid of $2.3 million for rights to turn in a renewable solar
project on 6,320-acres (Parcel 2). The
preferred applicants for Parcel 1 and 2 have two tasks to complete. One is they have 30-days from auction to turn
in completed right-of-way applications.
The other is they have 60-days from auction to turn in a Plan of
Development. Once the BLM has the
preferred applicants completed tasks, they will review the projects to validate
the project suitability against current laws and policies before greenlighting
the projects. The BLM is currently
reviewing many onshore clean energy projects in the western United States. If you would like to read the more about the solar
auction and the BLM’s dedication to onshore clean energy projects, please click
the link: https://doi.gov/pressreleases/biden-harris-administration-holds-record-breaking-auction-solar-energy-development.
If you would like to learn more
about Amargosa Valley Solar Energy Zone, please click the link: AmargosaValley Solar Energy Zone (SEZ) - Nevada (anl.gov).
If you would like help in looking
into how to update your facility or terminal, contact us via the email in the
blog and check out our ESC's website!
We hope you have a great and
relaxing evening! Have a Happy 4th
of July!