LAS VEGAS (AP) — Elected officials and tribal leaders helped mark the start of production at a solar power array that, in 2012, was the first utility-scale sun-to-electricity plant approved by the U.S. Interior Department on Indian land in the nation.
First Solar corporate executive Georges Antoun said Friday the 250 megawatts generated at the Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project will go to Los Angeles, where it could power more than 100,000 homes.
The project about 30 miles north of Las Vegas has some 3.2 million photovoltaic solar panels.
Tribal chairman Darren Daboda says it shows that even small tribes can benefit from commercial renewable energy projects.
Nevada's U.S. senators, Republican Dean Heller and Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto, joined state, county and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials for the commissioning ceremony.