Summary: 

If approved, Las Vegas residents will soon have the option to tap into solar power generated by Project Gemini, set to become one of the world's largest solar facilities at 11 square miles and 690 MW. The array will come with 380 MW battery storage to allow energy usage at night or on cloudy days.

Article: 

A new solar facility north of the Las Vegas Valley is set to become one of the world’s largest.

Project Gemini would take up about 11 square miles of BLM land, making it about three times larger than the nearby Moapa Solar Energy array.

"This is going to give us that capability of making energy, storing it, and releasing it at night," said American Solar Energy Society, Nevada President Guy Snow.

The idea is that on a sunny day, the solar array turns the sun’s rays into usable energy for us but stores some of the power in a large array of batteries.

"They can have Gemini release that power from their battery storage on a button push and dump that energy onto our grid," said Snow. 

Snow says this would allow people to tap into the energy supply on cloudy days or after sunset. He says it will also be funneled to people without previous access to solar energy.

"Let's say you're living in an apartment or somewhere you can't have solar," said Snow. “Or let's say you don't want to install solar on the house you're living in now. You can actually go in there and check a little box for the green initiative where then your power would be coming from solar."

Snow says NV Energy is already tied in with Project Gemini.

The project isn’t without controversy. People have expressed concerns over the array’s environmental impact.

The Bureau of Land Management is accepting public input through Sept. 5.

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