New solar energy facility to be built in Nye County, bringing jobs to rural Nevada

December 22, 2009

Washington, D.C.—Nevada Senator Harry Reid made the following statement after NV Energy announced a 25 year agreement with SolarReserve to construct a new solar energy facility with innovative energy storage that will create up to 450 construction jobs, 45 permanent operations jobs, and 4,000 indirect jobs, while producing enough electricity to power 75,000 homes during peak electricity periods:

“This is a major jobs announcement for rural Nevada, Reid said.” “When the U.S. Air Force expressed reservations about the construction of this facility, and the project seemed dead, I contacted Defense Secretary Robert Gates to discuss how we could figure out a way to get this done for our state without interfering with the critical military training and testing activities at the Nellis Air Force Range.” “I’m pleased that we were able to work together to ensure that this state-of-the-art solar facility will be built in Nye County, bringing nearly 500 construction and permanent jobs and up to 4,000 indirect jobs to rural Nevada, as we make Nevada the nation’s clean energy leader.”