The U.S. Bureau of Land Management recently expanded Nevada’s electricity grid by giving NV Energy the greenlight to build the 472-mile long Greenlink West Transmission Project that stretches from Reno to Las Vegas. Greenlink West will connect dozens of solar projects to the grid, making it pivotal to Nevada’s clean-energy plan.
BLM received more than 200 public comments on the Greenlink West Draft Environmental Impact Statement, but was able to complete the environmental impact statement in just two years. Nationwide, transmission line permitting typically takes much longer due to public opposition.
The nation’s grid capacity needs to more than double for the U.S. to reach its goal of 100 percent clean electricity by 2035. Doubling the 260,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines that underpin the United States’ electric grid will require fixing our currently broken permitting process and a massive investment of minerals.
Read more in the Nevada Independent here.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.
