Mohave wind project gets DOI approval

July 2, 2013 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

The U.S. Department of the Interior has announced the approval of a major wind project in Arizona. When built, the wind farm will provide up to 500 MW to the electric grid.

Credit: Bureau of Land Management

The project is part of President Obama's comprehensive climate change action plan, in which he challenged the DOI to approve an additional 10,000 MW above the original goal of 10,000 MW of renewable energy production on public lands by 2020.

The project would erect up to 243 wind turbines on Federal lands for the Mohave County Wind Farm, which would be located in northwestern Arizona about 40 miles northwest of Kingman.

"These are exactly the kind of responsible steps that we need to take to expand homegrown, clean energy on our public lands and cut carbon pollution that affects public health," said DOI Secretary Sally Jewell in a statement. "This wind energy project shows that reducing our carbon pollution can also generate jobs and cut our reliance on foreign oil."

Including this most recent wind energy announcement, the DOI has approved 46 wind, solar and geothermal utility-scale projects on public lands since 2009, including associated transmission corridors and infrastructure to connect to established power grids. The Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has identified an additional 14 active renewable energy proposals slated for review this year and next.

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