More than 192,000 acres of land in Arizona is being dedicated to utility-scale renewable energy projects.
The U.S. Department of the Interior says the land primarily had been used for farming and has few environmental conflicts. The decision announced Friday marks the end of a three-year environmental analysis of land that can be used for solar or wind projects.
Officials say the land administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has access to transmission lines and is near areas with high electricity demand.
The Interior Department also identified a third so-called solar energy zone in Arizona that is part of the Obama administration’s effort to develop large-scale projects on public lands across the West. The Agua Caliente zone in Yuma County could generate more than 20 megawatts of power.
