The planned start-up Wednesday of Pattern Energy's 150-MW Spring Valley wind farm on US government-owned land in Ely, Nevada, brings to 31 the number of renewable energy projects approved to be built on federal lands since the Obama administration took office in 2009, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, Salazar said that before President Barack Obama took office no renewable energy projects had been permitted on federal land. Since then 17 solar, six wind, and eight geothermal projects have been received permits.
The conference is sponsored by the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank.
Also at the summit, Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, said that with the Spring Valley project and other recently completed wind projects, the US has reached the "milestone" of 50,000 MW of installed wind capacity.
