Washington (Platts)--3Jun2013/406 pm EDT/2006 GMT

The Obama administration on Monday announced the approval of three renewable energy projects in Arizona and Nevada totaling 520 MW of capacity, the first of many renewable energy projects on federal lands and waters the new head of the Interior Department hopes to unveil in the coming months.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, who was sworn into office in April, said she would continue the push by Ken Salazar, her predecessor, to develop solar, wind and other renewable projects and stressed that the federal government would not be a "roadblock" to these developments.

Jewell said Interior planned to announce details of its first offshore wind lease sale on Tuesday.

"In aggregate, these projects are helping to power our nation, strengthen our economy and diversify our energy portfolio," Jewell said during a conference call Monday. "This is one of the most important things we can do at Interior as we work toward a clean energy future, a low carbon economy and addressing the risks of climate change."

Jewell indicated Monday that the Obama administration could give no assurances that it could jumpstart the long-dormant offshore wind industry in the US, but said she did not want to see the government get in the way.

"I can't promise that they will be in production in four years, but we certainly don't want to be a roadblock to them being in production in four years if it makes good economic sense to the community," she said. "We're optimistic that with this lease sale that we'll see some action, but ... the market will dictate and we certainly won''t get in the way."

The three projects announced Monday include the 350-MW Midland Solar Energy Project and the 70-MW New York Canyon Geothermal Project, both in Nevada, and the 100-MW Quartzsite Solar Energy Project in Arizona.

All three projects will require construction of transmission lines and both the Midland and New York Canyon projects have power purchase agreements lined up, according to Neil Kornze, principal deputy director of Interior's Bureau of Land Management. Developers of the Quartzsite project have yet to finalize a PPA, Kornze said.

The Quartzsite project, which is being proposed by a subsidiary of California-based Solar Reserve, will be located on 1,600 acres of federal lands in La Paz County, Arizona and use dry-cooling technology in order to conserve water use.

The Midland project, proposed by Boulder Solar Power, will be built on private lands, but cross about 76 acres of the federal transmission corridor near Boulder City, Nevada.

The New York Canyon geothermal project, proposed by a subsidiary of TerraGen Power, will be built on more than 15,000 acres of federal lands in Pershing County, Nevada, and includes plans for a 230-kV transmission line.

--Brian Scheid, brian.scheid@platts.com
--Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, keiron.greenhalgh@platts.com

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