Biden agency's roadmap would fast-track historic ramp of utility solar on US lands

President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday announced its proposed roadmap for a potential accelerated historic ramp of utility-scale development on federal lands in 11 western US states administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The Western Solar Plan, if adopted, identifies 31 million acres (12.5 million ha) of land from a planning area of 162 million acres that are suitable to “expand efficient and environmentally responsible” permitting of photovoltaic projects financed by private capital.

The planning area is located within Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

The proposed 2024 plan “will drive responsible solar development to locations with fewer potential conflicts while helping the nation transition to a clean energy economy,” BLM said in a statement.

The new plan, which updates one adopted in 2012, strives to improve initial siting of project development proposals by identifying so-called “solar application areas.”

These are broad swaths of BLM-administered lands where proposals are anticipated to encounter fewer resource conflicts compared to areas unsuitable for solar development that likely will.

“The updated Western Solar Plan is a responsible, pragmatic strategy for developing solar energy on our nation’s public lands that supports national clean energy goals and long-term national energy security,” said BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning.

The agency, which is part of the Department of Interior, said the new proposal responds to key changes since it issued the 2012 plan.

First, there has been an increase in utility-scale solar development on private and public lands nationwide. Second, advancements in technology and economic factors have shifted the focus to the use of PV technology.

Third, BLM is seeing increasing interest (represented through applications for PV solar energy development) on federal lands in the 5 northern states not covered by the 2012 Western Solar Plan (Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming).

Developed with substantial public input, BLM claims the updated Western Solar Plan proposal would also drive development closer to transmission lines, or on previously disturbed lands and avoiding protected lands, sensitive cultural resources and important wildlife habitat.

The administration touted its progress in debottlenecking the federal permitting process for grid-scale renewable energy projects, noting BLM earlier this year had surpassed the goal mandated by Congress to permit 25GW of capacity on federal lands by 2025.

Biden believes that opening appropriate federal lands in an environmentally responsible way will play a key role in enabling the US to achieve his ambitious 2035 carbon-free electric grid goal.

BLM underlined that this updated planning effort does not authorise solar developments, which must still undergo site-specific environmental review and public comment.

Following resolution of any remaining issues identified in this phase, BLM will publish the Record of Decision and Final Resource Management Plan Amendments.