Nye County commissioners voted 4-1 on Tuesday to grant Copper Rays Solar a Special Use Permit and approve its preliminary development plan, clearing a major local hurdle for a proposed 4,414-acre solar facility southeast of Pahrump. The vote came after an hour of public comment from residents split between welcoming the jobs and tax revenue and worrying about what the project could mean for the valley's strained water supply.
The project, developed by Duane Enger, is planned as a large-scale commercial solar generation facility on the border of Nye and Clark counties, according to pvtimes.com. It would sit on Bureau of Land Management land and, per project developer LREnergy US, generate up to 700 megawatts of solar power paired with up to 700 megawatts of four-hour battery storage. The BLM issued the project's final Environmental Impact Statement in August, a step pvtimes.com notes preceded this week's county-level approval.
Tuesday's vote does not mean shovels go into the ground anytime soon. As 8 News Now reported, the county's sign-off is not the same as final federal authorization to build, and the BLM's project page still lists the federal process as ongoing, under protest and resolution. Construction itself, once it can begin, is expected to take about 54 months and support between 300 and 400 jobs, according to BLM figures cited by pvtimes.com.
Jobs, Taxes and a $10 Million Community Pledge
Once built, the facility would employ just five people, and Enger has said the company aims to prioritize local hires when filling those positions. The payoff for the county, according to Enger, could be substantial: up to $94 million in local property tax revenue over the project's estimated 36-year operating life, translating to more than $2 million annually, plus up to $1 million per year in federal lease revenues.
The proposed development agreement also calls for up to $10 million in community investments covering public safety, fire protection, water stewardship, scholarships and recreational facilities. Nye County Commission Chair Ron Boskovich praised what he described as the developer's openness, transparency and availability for questions throughout the review process. Commissioner Jake Macias said the project could provide good jobs, strengthen the local economy and be developed responsibly.
Water Worries Dominate Public Comment
Not everyone was convinced. The Pahrump Valley sits in a hydrological basin widely described as among the most overcommitted on paper, and the Las Vegas Review-Journal has reported that while solar projects use relatively little water for upkeep, they can guzzle significant amounts during construction. Residents raised exactly that concern during public comment, with Enger telling commissioners the project is designed to reduce water demand during construction and would use only about 10 acre-feet of water annually once operating — a figure Enger separately confirmed to pvtimes.com, though the exact scale of the construction-phase reduction was not specified.
Nanette Markham asked commissioners whether Pahrump residents actually want their town to look like the project once it's built, and Joanie Hawley said she would not have moved to Pahrump had she known about the number of solar projects already underway nearby. John Koenig, by contrast, said he trusts the developers. The Review-Journal has noted that six planned solar projects in the area could together transform nearly 20,000 acres of public land in the Pahrump Valley.
Mitigation Measures and Nearby Projects
Copper Rays' plan includes setbacks of at least one mile from existing residential property lines and a half-mile from State Route 160, per pvtimes.com. Enger has said the project will grade only a small portion of the property, relocate tortoises, salvage native plants such as yuccas and cacti, and preserve all off-highway vehicle trails crossing the site.
Copper Rays is one of several large solar proposals moving through the pipeline near Pahrump. Nevada Current reports that the proposed Purple Sage Energy Center, a 400-megawatt project about 13 miles south of Pahrump on more than 4,500 acres, is expected to use roughly 900 acre-feet of water during an 18-month construction period and permanently degrade nearly 860 acres of existing habitat. The outlet has also reported on the Mosey Solar Project, a planned 500-megawatt facility about eight miles southeast of Pahrump that could power more than 200,000 homes and require a construction workforce of 200 to 300 workers. The Review-Journal notes that only the nearly finished Yellow Pine Solar Project has actually broken ground in the area so far, with five other companies, including Copper Rays, still working through various stages of BLM permitting.
The developer has said Copper Rays would eventually be decommissioned and the land restored under a BLM restoration plan backed by a performance and reclamation bond, according to LREnergy US. For now, the project's fate still hinges on the outcome of the federal environmental review process, which, as 8 News Now reported, remains unresolved even after this week's county approval.
