Trump Administration Reportedly Cancels Nevada’s Largest Solar and Storage Project, Restricting Clean Affordable Electricity Supply as Costs Surge

(WASHINGTON – October 10, 2025) According to news reports, the Esmeralda Seven solar project in Nevada has been canceled by the Bureau of Land Management, as reflected on BLM’s website. The solar and storage project, the largest proposed in Nevada, would produce enough electricity to power nearly 2 million homes -- roughly three times the generating capacity of the Hoover Dam. The project already obtained a draft environmental impact statement. 

“Solar and storage are the cheapest, fastest ways to bring much-needed affordable power to communities, as electricity demand and costs surge,” said Ted Kelly, Director and Lead Counsel for U.S. Clean Energy at Environmental Defense Fund. “Pulling the plug on this project without explanation won’t lower electricity bills for Nevada families and businesses. Restricting the supply of cheap electricity only makes the problem worse. 

“Instead, the Trump administration is doubling down on costly fossil fuels like coal, opening up new federal lands for coal mining and handing out over $600 million in subsidies to keep polluting, aging coal plants on life support.  

“This is yet another example of how the Trump administration is taking a two-tiered approach to energy permitting: polluting, expensive fossil fuels get ‘concierge, white glove service,’ while cheap renewables and storage get freezes, delays and cancellations. This strategy raises electricity costs for families, creates more asthma-causing pollution, and drives away clean energy investments that create jobs right now.” 

The news follows reporting from The Washington Post about how the White House offers “concierge, white glove service” for coal, oil and gas companies, helping fossil fuel firms obtain fast approval of their projects. At the same time, the administration has obstructed clean energy development, freezing federal permitting for wind energy projects, issuing stop work orders on two major offshore wind projects, and adding more red tape to slow down and block renewable and storage projects on federal lands. 

Clean energy projects on federal lands produce about 4% of the nation’s renewable power and have the potential to provide 12.5% in the next decade.