Energy Policy
Feds Cancel 6.2-GW Nevada Solar Plant OK in Latest Barrage of Anti-renewables Crusade
Nevada area where the proposed 6.2-GW Esmeralda solar energy project now awaits decisions on its future from developers and the Trump administration.
Threats from the Trump administration to curtail already awarded federal funds and approvals for U.S. clean energy development have revved up in recent days—with the U.S. Interior Dept. reversing its sign-off to proceed on the 6.2-GW Esmeralda Seven solar and battery project in Nevada, while the U.S. Dept. of Energy targets hundreds of previously awarded clean energy grants worth an estimated $24 billion.
Interior said Oct. 10 that it cancelled a key approval for the Esmeralda project, to be located about 30 miles west of Tonopah, Nev., on department-owned land, originating from a Biden-era agreement with firms developing its seven contiguous sections. Together, they are set to produce 6.2 GW of clean power and be a leading energy source in the state.
The “programmatic review” action, quietly taken and noted in a statement on the agency's website, followed the Trump order to freeze clean energy project permits.
Interior released the Esmeralda project draft environmental review last year and had promised final approval, the record of decision, in July. Project developers include NextEra Energy, Invenergy, Leeward Energy and ConnectGen, among others.
Owners of seven smaller land parcels that make up the 62,000-acre Esmeralda solar energy project, shown in colored areas, now must seek new US environmental approval to develop each, the US Interior Dept. said. Map courtesy of US Bureau of Land Management
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Interior did not cancel the entire 62,000-acre project, a department spokesperson told media, but directed developers to separately resubmit parcels for new approval “to more effectively analyze potential impacts,” if they choose to continue development.
Among developers responding to media, a NextEra Energy spokesperson said on Oct. 10 the firm was “in the early stage of development and remains committed to pursuing our project’s comprehensive environmental analysis by working closely with [the department]. A spokesperson for Leeward Energy said it had “no information to share regarding the project update.”
In an Aug. 4 letter to Burgum, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) raised concern about economic impacts to growing state industries such as data centers and mining if solar energy projects are curtailed or delayed.
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Nevada ranked fourth in the U.S. last year in total electricity generation from utility- and small-scale solar resources, comprising 31% of the state's total power generation, said the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Ben Norris, vice president of regulatory affairs for the Solar Energy Industries Association, said Interior needs to further clarify “its apparent decision to abruptly cancel these solar projects in the late stages of the review process.”
Despite Esmeralda's clean energy appeal, some environmental advocates oppose its impact on a pristine area. Advocacy group Basin and Range Watch and others sued Interior in May for not considering Esmeralda Seven in its environmental review of Greenlink West, a 472-mile, multibillion-dollar Reno to Las Vegas transmission line, meant to move energy from rural areas to Nevada urban centers. While that project's federal approvals are also at risk, NV Energy is moving ahead to build the project, said a spokeswoman.
Opponents speculated whether Esmeralda Seven's developers would actually resubmit applications after “tariffs and roadblocks set by the administration” added new layers of complication, said one. Shaaron Netherton, executive director of Friends of Nevada Wilderness, said the cancelled review “will be an opportunity moving forward to find better sites for solar development.”
As part of other administration action mandated in recent months, Burgum now has to personally approve all “environmentally damaging” solar and wind energy projects on public lands, requiring the department to consider “capacity density” when evaluating projects, which observers said could be a barrier due to projects' space needs. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin also has moved to end the $7-billion national Solar for All program, which offered states grants to develop solar energy for low-income households—a policy reversal from the Biden era that generated in October a federal district court lawsuit by solar installation firms, nonprofits and the Rhode Island AFL-CIO. The U.S. Agriculture Dept. also said it would no longer fund solar projects on productive farmland,
DOE Eyes Billions More in Funding Cuts
The Esmeralda reversal and other solar power restrictions come as a U.S. Energy Dept list of hundreds of clean power project federal grant recipients targeted for termination was leaked to the media—possibly totaling an added $12 billion beyond $7.56 billion the agency earlier this month would terminate.
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The group includes some 600 grant recipients, with about half on the earlier announced list, and total funding of nearly $24 billion, according to the document. Media speculation suggests the list was leaked with the intention of using the cuts as leverage.
On the list was funding for carbon capture projects in development by oil giants ExxonMobil and Occidental as well as hundreds of millions provided to electric vehicle manufacturing sites built or under construction by Ford Motor Co., General Motors, Stellantis and Volvo.
Canada, however, is moving to gain carbon capture market share that the U.S. appears to be rejecting. Montreal-based technology startup Deep Sky said Oct. 9 that it will build what it claims will be one of the world’s largest direct air capture projects, an estimated $500-million plant in Manitoba at a not-yet-chosen site.
“Canada has the opportunity to become the carbon removal capital of the world, and capture the jobs and economic opportunity that will come with it,” said Alex Petre, Deep Sky CEO.
"We have not yet chosen a contractor for Deep Sky Manitoba, but will be doing so in the coming months, spokesperson Brooks Wallace told ENR. "Construction will begin in 2026 and we're aiming to get to full capacity by 2028."
The facility would be able to remove 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually from the atmosphere, using GE Vernova direct air capture technology along with others, Deep Sky said. Technology is also being reviewed at an already operating Deep Sky test facility in Alberta.
Deep Sky, a Canadian direct air capture developer, plans large-scale facilities that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for underground storage or resale in carbon markets. The firm’s pilot sites in Quebec and Alberta combine renewable power, CO₂ capture and permanent geological storage. Images courtesy of Deep Sky
Also on the Trump hit list are new funding cuts to five U.S. hydrogen hubs that could total more than $4.5 billion, including those focused on deriving the fuel from natural gas, in addition to two in California and the Pacific Northwest focused on renewables-based hydrogen that previously lost $2.2 billion.
Those now facing cuts are: HyVelocity hub located on the Gulf Coast; the Midwest and mid-Atlantic hubs; the Appalachian hub in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania; and the Heartland hub in the Dakotas, Montana, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Burgum had supported the latter as North Dakota governor, while Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) earlier this year voiced concern that Trump could cut the Appalachian hub's $925 million in federal funding.
DOE officials have not officially confirmed specific cuts. “We have been unable to verify the documents referenced. No determinations have been made other than what has been previously announced,” DOE chief spokesperson Ben Dietderich told ENR. The agency “continues to conduct an individualized and thorough review of financial awards made by the previous administration.”
