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The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has released a final plan to expand the number and scope of utility-scale solar energy projects on public lands that would add 9 million acres in five more western states, for a total of more than 31 million acres of potential. development
The plan will guide the agency’s management of solar projects going forward, pushing development closer to transmission lines or on previously disturbed land and avoiding protected lands, sensitive cultural resources and important life habitat wild, said the bureau, a unit of the US Department of the Interior.
The new states added are Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.
To date, 40 renewable energy projects—a combination of solar, geothermal and transmission grid connections—have been authorized on public land, with a total capacity of 29 GW. The new power generation potential exceeds the goal outlined in a January 2021 executive order by President Joe Biden calling for 25 GW allowed by 2025.
The final plan, which follows a draft released in January, incorporates input from industry and environmental stakeholders and seeks to balance development and preservation of sensitive areas, the office said. It is formally called the Utility Scale Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement.
Opponents will have 30 days to protest the updated solar plan, released Aug. 30 in Federal Register.
The agency had not updated its plan to establish criteria for locating new solar projects on public land since 2012, citing technological advances, greater demand for more development to meet the administration’s climate goals and a significant increase in number of project applications from state developers. not included before.
But the final plan does not authorize specific projects, and future ones will have to undergo site-specific environmental reviews.
“The updated Western Solar Plan will help build a modern, resilient energy infrastructure that creates a strong clean energy economy and protects our communities from the worsening impacts of climate change,” said Steve Feldgus, Principal Assistant Secretary of the Interior for the management of land and minerals. He noted that the plan includes “extensive planning and collaboration” to enable faster projects, “avoiding conflicts and striking the right balance as we move forward on clean energy.”
The move to avoid potential conflicts with local land uses would help avoid delays that have stalled other projects, agency director Tracy Stone-Manning said.
Environmental groups such as the League of Conservation Voters and the Natural Resources Defense Council support the plan, which they said will spur “responsible development” of non-fossil fuel energy sources.
