How much of death valley is wasteland?

Question

how about blanketing this wasteland with solar panels, how much energy would that generate?

Answer 1

That's a good idea. But you have to take cost into consideration, e.g. cost of solar panel  and electricity transmission equipment.

(Photovoltaic systems are not cheap. A commonly used benchmark is $10 per watt of installed solar power panels. )

As the advent of cheaper solar panel with higher technology in the near future, your proposal might be put on agenda.

Answer 2

Death Valley is a National Park with a varied ecosystem.

CA is in the process of building the worlds largest solar farm in an area that won't kill a unique ecsystem.

Answer 3

Enough to power the entire western US and some of the eastern US.

Answer 4

Blanketing with solar pannels would not provide as much energy as we could save by reducing our consumption, which would also save money too.

by wasteland do you mean humans are not able to make a quick profit from it, or that humans have wasted it so it is no good for all the endangered and diverse species that once thrived there?

please read A Sand country Almanac (includes thinking like a mountain) by Aldo Leopold before you decide what is wasteland.