An enormous solar power project in the Nevada desert that would have been one of the world’s largest has been canceled, according to the Interior Department.
The reason for the cancellation was not immediately clear. But the project appeared to be the latest casualty of the Trump administration’s efforts to thwart the construction of solar and wind energy projects on millions of acres of public lands, predominantly in the American West.
The project, known as Esmeralda 7, would have comprised a sprawling network of solar panels and batteries across 118,000 acres of federally owned land in the Nevada desert northwest of Las Vegas. It was expected to produce up to 6.2 gigawatts of energy, enough to power nearly two million homes.
The developers of the project included NextEra Energy, one of the country’s largest utilities, and Invenergy, a company that builds solar and wind farms as well as natural gas plants and battery storage systems.
Representatives for NextEra, Invenergy and the Interior Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management quietly updated its webpage on the project’s permitting process late Thursday to reflect the cancellation. The webpage did not provide additional information.
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The post An Immense Solar Project Just Got Canceled Under Trump appeared first on New York Times.
