Board approves 150 MW Dodge Flat battery storage project with code variances
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Summary
The Washoe County Board of Adjustment approved special‑use permit WSUP25‑0024 to site a 150 MW (4‑hour, 600 MWh) battery energy storage system adjacent to Dodge Flat Solar Energy Center, permitting ~8.1 acres of permanent disturbance and waiving certain parking and landscaping standards; staff reported no public comments.
The Washoe County Board of Adjustment on Jan. 5 unanimously approved WSUP25‑0024, a special‑use permit for a 150‑megawatt, four‑hour battery energy storage system to be located adjacent to the existing Dodge Flat Solar Energy Center in the Truckee Canyon planning area.
Senior planner Courtney Wyke summarized the application and staff analysis, saying the facility would sit on four parcels covering roughly 1,400 acres, but that the developed portion of the project would occupy about 13 acres. Wyke said the proposal would result in approximately 8.1 acres of permanent disturbance and 17.9 acres of temporary disturbance, require up to 12,558 cubic yards of cut and 11,312 cubic yards of fill, and include about 1.2 miles of 34.5 kV collection lines connecting to the existing Dodge Flat substation. Staff recommended approval with conditions and provided required findings under the county code for development of natural resources.
Project developer Bridal Hickey, representing Dodge Flat Energy Storage/NextEra Energy Resources, told the board the project is a 150 MW nameplate capacity with a four‑hour duration — 600 megawatt‑hours total — and that the team is targeting commercial operation in summer 2027. Hickey said peak construction is expected to last about three months with roughly 200 workers at peak, and that water for construction (mainly dust suppression) would come from municipal sources. “It is a 150 megawatt nameplate capacity for a 4 hour duration,” Hickey said.
Board members questioned whether the developer or parent companies would handle end‑of‑life battery recycling; Hickey said NextEra does not itself perform battery recycling but works with recycling partners and expects to utilize available recycling chains at end of life. The developer also described community benefits and past investments in Nevada and said the project would use existing rights‑of‑way authorized by the Bureau of Land Management to reach the adjacent substation.
No public comments were offered at the hearing. Rob Pierce moved to approve the special‑use permit with the conditions listed in Exhibit A and to vary county parking and landscaping standards as the applicant requested; the motion passed on a unanimous voice vote.
Next steps include compliance with the conditions in Exhibit A, any required federal or BLM approvals for rights‑of‑way, and the applicant’s final construction and mitigation plans prior to ground‑disturbing work.