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11.6 GOLD POINT 1 2 3 11.6.1 Background And 1 11.6 GOLD POINT 2 3 4 11.6.1 Background and Summary of Impacts 5 6 7 11.6.1.1 General Information 8 9 The proposed Gold Point SEZ is located in Esmeralda County in southwestern Nevada 10 (Figure 11.6.1.1-1). The SEZ has a total area of 4,810 acres (19 km2). In 2008, the county 11 population was 664, while adjacent Nye County to the east had a population of 44,175. There 12 are no incorporated towns in close proximity to the SEZ. The town of Tonopah is approximately 13 50 mi (80 km) to the north, and the Las Vegas metropolitan area is approximately 180 mi 14 (290 km) to the southeast of the SEZ. 15 16 The nearest major road access to the proposed Gold Point SEZ is State Route 774, which 17 parallels the eastern edge of the SEZ; U.S. 95 runs north–south as it passes within 9 mi (14 km) 18 to the east of the SEZ. The UP Railroad serves the region; the closest stop is in Thorne, 160 mi 19 (257 km) northwest of the SEZ. The nearest public airport is Lida Junction Airport, a small BLM 20 airport about 10 mi (16 km) from the SEZ. There are three additional airports in the vicinity, 21 none of which have scheduled commercial passenger service. The nearest airport with scheduled 22 passenger service is in Las Vegas, Nevada. 23 24 A 120-kV transmission line passes 22 mi (35 km) west of the SEZ. It is assumed that a 25 new transmission line would be needed to provide access from the SEZ to the transmission grid 26 (see Section 11.6.1.2). 27 28 Applications for ROWs that have been submitted to the BLM include one pending solar 29 project, one pending authorization for wind site testing, two authorized projects for wind site 30 testing, and one authorized geothermal project that would be located within 50 mi (80 km) of the 31 Gold Point SEZ. These applications are discussed in Section 11.6.22.2.1. 32 33 The proposed Gold Point SEZ is in an undeveloped rural area. The SEZ is located in the 34 Lida Valley, which lies between the Mount Jackson Ridge and Cuprite Hills to the north and 35 Slate Ridge to the south. It is bounded on the west by the Palmetto Mountains and on the east by 36 the Stonewell Mountains. 37 38 The proposed Gold Point SEZ and other relevant information are shown in 39 Figure 11.6.1.1-1. The criteria used to identify the SEZ as an appropriate location for solar 40 energy development included proximity to existing transmission lines or designated corridors, 41 proximity to existing roads, a slope of generally less than 2%, and an area of more than 42 2,500 acres (10 km2). In addition, the area was identified as being relatively free of other types 43 of conflicts, such as USFWS-designated critical habitat for threatened and endangered species, 44 ACECs, SRMAs, and NLCS lands (see Section 2.2.2.2 for the complete list of exclusions). 45 Although these classes of restricted lands were excluded from the proposed Gold Point SEZ, 46 other restrictions might be appropriate. The analyses in the following sections address the Draft Solar PEIS 11.6-1 December 2010 1 2 FIGURE 11.6.1.1-1 Proposed Gold Point SEZ Draft Solar PEIS 11.6-2 December 2010 1 affected environment and potential impacts associated with utility-scale solar energy 2 development in the proposed SEZ for important environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic 3 resources. 4 5 As initially announced in the Federal Register on June 30, 2009, the proposed Gold 6 Point SEZ encompassed 5,830 acres (24 km2). Subsequent to the study area scoping period, the 7 boundaries of the proposed Gold Point SEZ were altered somewhat to facilitate the BLM’s 8 administration of the SEZ area. Borders with irregularly shaped boundaries were adjusted to 9 match the section boundaries of the Public Lands Survey System (PLSS) (BLM and USFS 10 2010c). The revised SEZ is approximately 1,020 acres (4 km2) smaller than the original SEZ 11 area as published in June 2009. 12 13 14 11.6.1.2 Development Assumptions for the Impact Analysis 15 16 Maximum solar development of the Gold Point SEZ is assumed to be 80% of the SEZ 17 area over a period of 20 years, a maximum of 3,848 acres (16 km2). These values are shown in 18 Table 11.6.1.2-1, along with other development assumptions. Full development of the Gold Point 19 SEZ would allow development of facilities with an estimated total of 428 MW of electrical 20 power capacity if power tower, dish engine, or PV technologies were used, assuming 21 9 acres/MW (0.04 km2/MW) of land required, and an estimated 770 MW of power if solar 22 trough technologies were used, assuming 5 acres/MW (0.02 km2/MW) of land required. 23 24 Availability of transmission from SEZs to load centers will be an important consideration 25 for future development in SEZs. The nearest existing transmission line is a 120-kV line 22 mi 26 (35 km) west of the SEZ. It is possible that a new transmission line could be constructed from 27 the SEZ to this existing line, but the 120-kV capacity of that line would be inadequate for 428 to 28 770 MW of new capacity (note that a 500 kV line can accommodate approximately the load of 29 one 700-MW facility). At full build-out capacity, new transmission and/or upgrades of existing 30 transmission lines (in addition to or instead of construction of a connection to the nearest existing 31 line) might be required to bring electricity from the proposed Gold Point SEZ to load centers; 32 however, at this time the location and size of such new transmission facilities are unknown. 33 Generic impacts of transmission and associated infrastructure construction and of line upgrades 34 for various resources are discussed in Chapter 5. Project-specific analyses would need to identify 35 the specific impacts of new transmission construction and line upgrades for any projects 36 proposed within the SEZ. 37 38 For purposes of as complete an analysis of impacts of development in the SEZ as 39 possible, it was assumed that, at a minimum, a transmission line segment would be constructed 40 from the proposed Gold Point SEZ to the nearest existing transmission line to connect the SEZ to 41 the transmission grid. This assumption was made without additional information on whether the 42 nearest existing transmission line would actually be available for connection of future solar 43 44 Draft Solar PEIS 11.6-3 December 2010 TABLE 11.6.1.2-1 Proposed Gold Point SEZ—Assumed Development Acreages, Solar MW Output, Access Roads, and Transmission Line ROWs Assumed Distance Assumed Total Acreage Maximum Distance to and Capacity Area of and Assumed SEZ Output Nearest State, of Nearest Transmission Distance to Developed for Various U.S., or Existing Line and Nearest Acreage Solar Interstate Transmission Road Designated (80% of Total) Technologies Highway Line ROWs Corridore 4,810 acres and 428 MWb and State Route 774 22 mid and 667 acres and 6 mi 3,848 acresa 770 MWc 0 mi 120 kV 0 acres a To convert acres to km2, multiply by 0.004047. b Maximum power output if the SEZ were fully developed using power tower, dish engine, or PV technologies, assuming 9 acres/MW (0.04 km2/MW) of land required. c. Maximum power output if the SEZ were fully developed using solar trough technologies, assuming 5 acres/MW (0.02 km2/MW) of land required. d To convert mi to km, multiply by 1.609. e BLM-designated corridors are developed for federal land use planning purposes only and are not applicable to state-owned or privately owned land. 1 2 3 facilities, and without assumptions about upgrades of the line. Establishing a connection to the 4 line closest to the SEZ would involve the construction of about 22 mi (35 km) of new 5 transmission line outside of the SEZ. The ROW for this transmission line would occupy 6 approximately 667 acres (2.7 km2) of land, assuming a 250-ft (76-m) wide ROW, a typical width 7 for such a ROW. If a connecting transmission line were constructed to a different offsite grid 8 location in the future, site developers would need to determine the impacts from construction and 9 operation of that line. In addition, developers would need to determine the impacts of line 10 upgrades if they were needed. 11 12 Existing road access to the proposed Gold Point SEZ should be adequate to support 13 construction and operation of solar facilities, because State Route 774 runs along the eastern 14 border of the SEZ. Thus, no additional road construction outside of the SEZ is assumed to be 15 required to support solar development, as summarized in Table 11.6.1.2-1. 16 17 18 11.6.1.3 Summary of Major Impacts and SEZ-Specific Design Features 19 20 In this section, the impacts and SEZ-specific design features assessed in Sections 11.6.2 21 through 11.6.21 for the proposed Gold Point SEZ are summarized in tabular form. 22 Table 11.6.1.3-1 is a comprehensive list of impacts discussed in these sections; the reader may 23 reference the applicable sections for detailed support of the impact assessment.
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