(Bloomberg) — The Trump administration on Monday approved the largest solar installation in U.S. history, giving its blessing to a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. subsidiary’s 690-megawatt project just north of Las Vegas.
When finished, NV Energy’s estimated $1 billion Gemini Solar Project is set to become the eighth-largest solar power facility in the world, spanning some 7,100 acres (2873 hectares) of federal land and generating enough electricity to power 260,000 homes in the region. The current record for a solar plant is 579 megawatts.
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt called approval of the project “one more step forward as the president is moving forward and transitioning” to reopen the economy. “It has a significant potential for construction jobs” during a real “tough time for folks,” Bernhardt said in an interview Monday.