Trump administration cancels massive solar power project in Nevada

Fields of solar panels operate in Wuzhong, a border town in the northwest province of China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, in 2011. The Trump administration canceled a proposed solar project in Nevada that would have been one of the largest solar power installations in the world. File photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License photo

Oct. 10 (UPI) — The Trump administration canceled the Esmeralda 7 solar project in Nevada, which would have been one of the largest solar energy installations in the world.

Bureau of Land Management officials announced Thursday that an environmental impact study of the proposed renewable energy facility had been canceled, which in turn cancels the project, Politico reported.

The canceled project would have built seven solar power projects at the Esmeralda site that would have occupied 118,000 acres of land in Nevada’s Esmeralda County and approximately 30 miles west of Tonopah and 270 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The project would have generated up to 6.2 gigawatts of energy over its lifetime, enough energy to power up to 2 million homes, according to Heatmap.

The proposed solar power project has generally proceeded smoothly under the Biden administration and would have included utility company NextEra Energy and Invenergy among its developers, The New York Times reported.

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican, expressed concerns in August about the unnecessary delay or cancellation of the solar power project in a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

Lombardo said completing the project would help Nevada better meet the nation’s energy needs for mining projects and data centers, according to the New York Times.

President Donald Trump previously criticized solar and wind power projects as insufficient and costly compared to natural gas and coal-fired power generation facilities.

Since Trump took office in January, the Interior Department has added new review requirements for wind and solar projects, slowing their development and preventing some from moving forward.

The Interior Department has also begun investigating bird deaths and other impacts on wildlife linked to large solar and wind projects.

While the Esmeralda 7 project appears to be canceled, another solar energy project in Nevada called Dodge Flat II is still underway, according to the BLM.