Trump Geothermal Lease Sale Clashes With Nevada Solar
The trump geothermal lease sale scheduled for Tuesday in Nevada will include thousands of acres that overlap major planned solar farms, according to federal documents cited by Reuters, pitting the administration’s favored always-on energy source against a solar industry that has largely been shut out of fast-track federal permitting.
The Bureau of Land Management is set to auction 83 parcels totaling 265,691 acres to geothermal developers across ten Nevada counties, in an online sale run through Efficient Markets with bidding opening at 7 a.m. Pacific.
NextEra: 60% of a 1,000-MW Project at Risk
NextEra Energy, the world’s largest owner of solar and wind generation, asked the agency earlier this year to “remove, defer or reconfigure” three of the proposed geothermal parcels. In comments submitted during the review, the company said the parcels overlap roughly 6,000 acres — about 60% — of its planned 1,000-megawatt Sawtooth Energy Center in Nye County.
NextEra warned the overlap could “create a foreseeable conflict” with its pending application. Maps published on the BLM website in August show six proposed geothermal parcels overlapping four major planned solar developments in the Nevada desert. One parcel, which overlaps entirely with NextEra’s Sawtooth project, did not appear on the auction website and appeared to have been recently removed from the sale.
BLM Says Lands Are for Multiple Uses
The agency declined NextEra’s request in August, saying federal lands are managed for multiple uses. The administration has promoted geothermal energy as a source of always-on electricity while largely excluding wind and solar from a broad effort to accelerate federal permitting.
Responding to the developer’s concerns, the BLM said NextEra “must collaborate with any potential lessee and adjust its operations accordingly to avoid land use conflicts.” The agency added that if NextEra’s project is approved first, it would hold the “senior right,” and any geothermal development would have to avoid impacts on the solar project.
What’s Next
The auction is a leasing decision only — not an approval to build a power plant or drill a production well. For each parcel leased, 50% of bid, rental and royalty receipts will go to the state of Nevada, 25% to the county where the lease sits, and 25% to the U.S. Treasury. Tuesday’s sale will test how the Trump administration balances its geothermal push against solar projects already moving through the federal pipeline.
Source: Reuters