Nevada’s largest – and only second – wind farm just got 70k acres from BLM

The US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has set aside 70,000 acres of public land for what will become Nevada’s largest wind farm.

Nevada’s largest wind farm

BLM has set aside public land for the wind farm – which is known as Stagecoach Wind – in order to prevent new mining claims from interfering with the project’s review or development. BLM’s environmental analysis of the wind project is “in progress,” according to the federal permitting dashboard, but estimated completion of that environmental review and permitting is June 2026.

The 600 megawatt (MW) Stagecoach Wind will be about 18 miles east of Eureka, in White Pine County, in the largely uninhabited Newark Valley, and it will connect to a substation located 30 miles east. It will provide the annual electricity needs of around 145,000 households annually. The type and size of wind turbines has not yet been disclosed.

Nevada is a newbie to wind power – Stagecoach Wind, once it’s online, will be only the second wind farm in the state of Nevada, and it will become the largest. The 152 MW Spring Valley Wind Farm (pictured above), which is also on public land, was Nevada’s first wind farm. Pattern Energy’s 152 MW wind farm, which came online in 2012, is 30 miles east of Ely.

Electrek’s Take

The Biden administration is aiming to permit 25 GW of clean energy on public lands no later than 2025, but Stagecoach Wind has almost no chance of meeting that deadline. Guess this is a good example of why the permitting process needs serious reform.

Nevada consumes six times more energy than the state produces, and the majority of it is natural gas, according to the US Energy Information Administration. It’s sixth in the US for solar, and Nevada only consumes 4% of Hoover Dam’s clean energy, as the rest of it goes to other states.

The state also has massive potential for geothermal energy production, and that’s why BLM just announced last week that it’s going to hold a competitive geothermal lease sale in November for 45 parcels of land totaling 135,067 acres. Will Nevada become a geothermal leader? We hope so, and we’ll keep an eye on it.

Read more: Nevada introduces great state incentives for electric trucks and buses

Photo: Pattern Energy

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