The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Jan. 6 announced approval of the 600-megawatt Jove Solar Project in Arizona.
Jove Solar LLC proposed to construct, operate, maintain, and eventually decommission a utility-scale solar facility and potential battery energy storage system on approximately 3,495 acres of public land and 38 acres of county lands in La Paz County.
The project would connect to the 500-kilovolt Cielo Azul switching station and Ten West Link transmission line.
The BLM’s approved alternative avoids construction within the desert wash that crosses the project, preserves the channel floodplain, maintains wildlife habitat connectivity, and avoids areas of environmental sensitivity, it said.
Project information is available at the BLM National NEPA Register.
Since January 2021, BLM has approved 46 renewable energy projects on public lands (12 solar, 14 geothermal, two wind, and 18 gen-ties) and exceeded the goal to permit 25 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2025.
Overall, BLM has permitted clean energy projects on public lands with a total capacity of more than 34 gigawatts.
BLM also issued a final Renewable Energy Rule “that will lower consumer energy costs and the cost of developing solar and wind projects, improve project application processes, create jobs, and incentivize developers to continue responsibly developing solar and wind projects on public lands.”
