County to auction land near Laughlin for solar development

Clark County officials hope to spur solar energy development on thousands of acres of county-owned land near Laughlin, after a larger effort to boost development fizzled.

The county’s push to lease out the vacant land to solar developers comes after a failed effort to put a large-scale solar development and solar panel manufacturing plant at the site through ENN Mojave Energy. The China-based company pulled out after it failed to obtain the power purchase agreement with a utility company that would have paved the way for development on 9,000 acres.

The renewed effort is scaled down. Two smaller parcels will be auctioned off for a leasing deal with the county in separate transactions, allowing potentially smaller developers to get involved. Officials also say it’s unlikely that the development will be the same scope as the scuttled ENN deal because that failed project also would have brought a manufacturing plant.

Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak, whose district encompasses the Laughlin area, said the potential development would bring in infrastructure to help make adjoining land more valuable and usable. Sisolak said some solar developers have already expressed an interest in the land and requested information about the auction.

The auctions to lease the land are both on July 21. One parcel is 2,596 acres west of the Needles Highway and Aha Macav Parkway in Laughlin. The other parcel, 1,629 acres, adjoins it.

Each parcel will have a separate auction, allowing developers to submit proposals to lease either piece of land, or both parcels. The larger parcel has a minimum bid of $560,000 annual rent; the smaller parcel has a minimum bid of $370,650 annual rent. Both set amounts are based on appraisals.

The county obtained the land as part of a state transfer in 2007 that shifted ownership of 9,000 acres of Colorado River Commission-owned land to Clark County to develop.

Laughlin Town Manager Jacquelyne Brady said the prospect of developing the area puts the gaming resort town, which already draws 2 million visitors a year, on the map more.

“During the construction, it will help existing businesses definitely, and it may prompt others to come here on a more permanent basis,” Brady said.

The county did an economic development plan in 2008 on the land, which it acquired in 2007.

To get going, a developer’s success depends on landing a power purchase agreement with a utility customer. That was what eluded ENN several years ago.

The other factors — like plentiful sunshine and abundant land — are already available, a factor that boosts the profile of the Southwest in the solar energy industry.

“Really, it’s an issue of can you get a power purchase agreement,” said Robert Boehm, a distinguished professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and director of the school’s Center for Energy Research.

“It’s a pretty good solar area there, and there’s a lot of land down there,” Boehm said.

As for the Silver State, it’s uniquely positioned to sell renewable energy to neighboring California to meet the growing demand in that state, said Jennifer Taylor, executive director of the Clean Energy Project, a nonprofit Nevada-based organization that educates the public about energy.

In 2014, Nevada installed 339 megawatts of solar energy capacity, with 318 megawatts being utility-scale projects, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. The others were residential and commercial installations.

The state now has 886 megawatts of solar energy in place, the fifth highest in the United States, according to the trade association. That’s enough power for 135,000 homes.

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904. Follow @BenBotkin1 on Twitter.