The Bureau of Land Management published an environmental review of plans for a major solar energy facility in La Paz County on Tuesday.
According to BLM project manager Derek Eysenbach, the land isn’t currently being used much, outside of recreation. But in the next few years it’ll be home to a roughly 5,000 acre solar power plant.
“It's always an estimate,” he said, “but it'd be about 200,000 homes worth of power generated annually.”
Eysenbach said the proposed facility would contribute power to the regional interstate grid.
“This energy really reaches a regional grid and provides more supply,” explained Eysenbach, “which should help ratepayers throughout the region keep power bills down by adding more supply to the pool, if you will, and providing resiliency to that grid.”
He explained that the project isn’t meant to be a permanent one, though. As technology develops and market needs change, there might be a better use for the land in 40 years.
The Bureau, said Eysenbach, is pushing for a plan to prep and preserve the soil, getting the solar project off the ground more smoothly.
On that front: “We're hoping to reach a decision on this project sometime in fall of 2025.”
For now, he said the agency’s focus is on double-checking their analysis for anything they missed with an upcoming virtual public meeting currently set for Feb. 5.