The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Libra Solar Project in Lyon and Mineral Counties.
The project, spearheaded by Libra Solar, LLC, a subsidiary of Arevia Power, plans to construct, operate, maintain, and decommission a 700-megawatt (MW) solar facility along with a 700 MW energy storage system and a 24-mile-long generation line, under a 30-year BLM right-of-way grant. The project would generate and store enough clean energy to power over 212,000 homes.
The proposed solar facility would occupy approximately 5,141 acres of public lands in Mineral County, with the generation tie-line connecting to the Fort Churchill substation in Lyon County.
“BLM manages vast stretches of public lands that have the potential to make significant contributions to the nation’s renewable energy portfolio,” said Kim Dow, Carson City District Manager. “To promote the development of these energy sources, BLM provides sites for environmentally sound development of renewable energy on public lands.”
The Department of the Interior recently announced that the BLM had achieved the milestone of permitting 25 gigawatts of clean energy projects, encompassing solar, wind, geothermal, and transmission lines that cross public lands to connect renewable energy projects on private lands to the grid. As of July 2024, an additional 70 utility-scale clean energy projects—with more than 32 gigawatts of renewable energy—are being processed by the BLM throughout the western United States.
Moreover, the agency has begun reviewing over 170 solar and wind development applications and more than 40 solar and wind energy testing sites.
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