BrightSource Energy has struck a preliminary deal with Coyote Springs Land Co. in Nevada to expand a previous land lease agreement and increase the size of its solar thermal power development to 960 megawatts from 600 megawatts.

The latest deal calls for building solar thermal power plants in a 12-square-mile zone within Coyote Spring's property in Lincoln County. Back in March this year, Oakland, Calif.-based BrightSource had signed a deal with the same landowner to build 600 megawatts within a 6-square-mile area.

BrightSource declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal.

Land is a hot commodity among solar thermal power developers, who typically build large projects with hundreds of megawatts in generation capacity in one location. Properties managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management in eastern California, Arizona and other southwestern states have been popular choices.

The rush to develop on BLM land, which typically comes with cheaper leases than renting or buying private properties, has elicited strong opposition from environmental and recreational activities groups. Environmentalists have pushed for the development of power plants on previously tilled or otherwise used properties instead of pristine sites.

BrightSource was embroiled in such a dispute when it previously proposed to build on a site in eastern Mojave Desert that was part of 600,000 acres a nonprofit conservation group bought and donated to the Interior Department for preservation.

The conservation group, the Wildlands Conservancy, has since turned to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for help. Feinstein has indicated she would introduce a legislation to turn the property into a national monument, a designation that would prevent any renewable energy development.

BrightSource abandoned its plan in that eastern Mojave location a few months ago. It has another project on public land in the Mojave, in Ivanpah, that is still under development. The plan to is to start building the project, which has a total generation capacity of 440 megawatts, in early 2010.

The company has been keen on finding project sites on both public and private properties. It plans to build power plants on Coyote Springs land and sell the electricity to Coyote Springs as well utilities/communities in southern Nevada and California.