Promoting sustainable energy while protecting tortoises
The Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Facility is the first large solar facility to be located on tribal lands in the US. Situated on a 2,153-acre plot of land within the Moapa River Indian Reservation in Nevada, and on 10.5 acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, the facility has a Power Purchase Agreement with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to deliver renewable energy for 25 years.
Our team successfully worked with the tribe, federal, and state cooperating agencies federal solicitors for the BLM and the U.S. Bureau for Indian Affairs, tribal attorneys, and local and national environmental groups to complete the full range of tasks required for this complex project, including the preparation of an environmental impact statement. We provided pre-construction surveys, state and federal permitting, and biological and cultural monitoring and compliance for the construction of the solar facility, access roads, and perimeter fence construction. We also completed an extensive clearing and translocation of desert tortoises off the 2,000-acre site. Implementation of the Tortoise Translocation Program took two months to complete and required 40 biologists relocating and translocating 169 desert tortoises.
By providing mitigation to potential impacts to the desert tortoises, the project could move forward into the next phase and eventually construction. Today, this 250-megawatt solar facility generates enough clean solar energy to serve 111,000 homes a year.
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