The U.S. Department of the Interior approved this week the biggest solar project in the United States ever—an estimated US$1-billion solar plus battery storage project in Nevada. Australia’s Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners and California-based Arevia Power now have the green light to build and operate the Gemini Solar Project some 30 miles northeast of Las Vegas in Clark County, Nevada. The project will consist of a 690-MW photovoltaic solar electric generating facility plus a battery storage facility. The project will be the world’s eighth-largest solar power facility and is expected to generate enough electricity to power 260,000 homes in the Las Vegas area and potential energy markets in Southern California, the Department of the Interior said. The plan received the U.S. Administration’s approval despite objections from environmentalists who had argued in recent years that the construction would endanger rare species in the area, including the desert tortoise, and endanger the […]