BLM advances Nevada power line touted as key to solar growth

By Scott Streater | 06/11/2024 04:26 PM EDT

The Greenlink West line proposed from Las Vegas to Reno would deliver electricity from solar farms in remote parts of Nevada across the West.

Transmission lines in California are pictured.

Transmission lines in California are pictured. Oran Viriyincy/Flickr

A proposed power-line project that would span the length of Nevada and allow more than a dozen commercial-scale solar projects from Las Vegas to Reno to deliver green energy across the West, has moved a step closer toward final approval.

The Bureau of Land Management on Tuesday announced it has completed a more than two-year-long review of the 470-mile Greenlink West project, which has been planned to run parallel to the state’s border with California.

Greenlink West, which would have the capacity to transport enough electricity to power roughly 1.2 million homes, has already sparked the solar power industry to propose numerous utility-scale projects along the line’s projected path.

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“Large-scale transmission projects are key to the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of moving our nation towards a clean energy future with good-paying jobs and healthy local economies while tackling the climate crisis,” said Laura Daniel-Davis, the acting deputy Interior secretary, in a statement. “Working with states, Tribes and partners across the American West, we are taking bold steps to build the infrastructure that will get us to a 100% clean electric grid by 2035.”

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