The United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has designated 4,211 acres (1,704 hectares) of public lands in Nevada's White Pine County for the prospective establishment of a solar park with a capacity of up to 400 MW.
In an announcement made on Monday, the agency revealed that the specified site will be reserved for a two-year period, preventing the land from being sold or subjected to new mining claims during this time. BLM will utilize this duration to assess the suitability of the land for the proposed photovoltaic (PV) project. Should the evaluation yield positive results, the designated area, situated 15 miles west of Ely, will serve as the future site for the Pantheon Solar Development Project, spearheaded by Pantheon LLC.
Notably, the Pantheon Solar Development Project encompasses plans for a battery energy storage component, featuring a proposed capacity of up to 950 MW.
The land segregation, effective as of October 31, 2023, aligns with a directive from the US Congress instructing BLM to facilitate the construction of 25 GW of solar, wind, and geothermal projects on public lands by no later than 2025.
This recent move follows BLM's allocation of 70,000 acres of public land in the prior month, earmarked for Nevada's largest wind farm, a substantial 600 MW facility destined for construction in the mostly uninhabited Newark Valley within the state.
