Solar plant approved on tribal land north of Las Vegas

By Chris Kudialis

Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016 | 2:36 p.m.

Standing at a podium with the American and Moapa Band of Paiute Indian flags behind her, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced today the federal government’s approval of a 100-megawatt solar power plant on tribal land 40 miles north of Las Vegas.

“Indian country will be a key player in our renewable energy future,” said Jewell, speaking at the site of a 250-megawatt plant set to open in November, also on tribal property. “These projects create energy from natural resources and they respect the land.”

The 250-megawatt Moapa Southern Paiute Solar plant, about 20 miles north of Las Vegas, will power 100,000 homes and serve customers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power under a 25-year agreement, tribe Chairman Robert Tom said.

No customer has yet been identified for the 100-megawatt Aiya plant, which will generate enough power for about 25,000 homes, he said.

A third, 100-megawatt solar project is planned on the tribe’s Snow Mountain Reservation, about 18 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

“These solar projects will provide long-term economic benefits that will allow the tribe to diversify, to grow and to achieve its goals, while remaining true to our culture and heritage,” Tom said.

First Solar, which is building all three plants on leased tribal land, will give hiring priority to Native Americans before opening jobs to the general public, said Brian Coons, the company’s vice president of project development.

Jewell’s trip to Nevada was the final stop on a three-state tour to talk about the Obama administration’s efforts to support renewable energy. She spoke on Friday in Boston and Wednesday in Palm Springs, Calif., about developing offshore wind and other renewable energies.

Obama’s Climate Action Plan calls for the Department of the Interior to permit 20,000 megawatts of renewable power by 2020.

Since the plan went into effect in 2008, the department has approved 59 utility-scale renewable energy projects on public land, including 35 solar, 11 wind and 13 geothermal projects with about 15,500 megawatts of renewable energy capacity — enough to power about 5.1 million homes, according to statistics provided by the department.