The Townsite Solar II data center project near Boulder City recently received a stay from a Department of the Interior judge, blocking its construction.
The project was initially proposed by Skylar Capital Management on an 88.5-acre site within Boulder City limits. The development team withdrew the initial application following the Planning Commission’s recommendation of denial. Developers then resubmitted the project on Bureau of Land Management territory just outside the city. NVBEX has extensively covered this project.
Prior to the proposal of the data center, Skylar Capital received approval of a nearby solar farm in 2023. Developers scrapped the solar farm to instead build the withdrawn data center. This allowed developers to bypass the National Environmental Policy Act process, as it had already been conducted for the solar farm.
The BLM moved to approve the changes, which was followed by two separate appeals from the City of Boulder City, as well as the Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity. DOI Administrative Judge David Gunter handed down the stay, noting that solar farms and data centers are not “substantially the same.”
The stay prevents developers from moving forward with the construction process until the case is resolved in court.
As proposed, Townsite Solar II would consist of a 167 MW data center with 70 MW of battery storage. (Source: The Nevada Independent)
