US surpasses 2025 goal to permit 25GW of grid and renewable energy projects on public lands
Department of Interior also issues final rule to facilitate additional development in identified 'priority areas'
President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday announced it has met a goal to permit 25GW of clean energy projects on federal lands by 2025 and issued a final Renewable Energy Rule to facilitate further solar and wind development in identified priority areas.
The Department of Interior (DoI) has now permitted projects including generation-intertie overhead electric lines, geothermal, solar, and wind to enable 29GW of clean energy capacity, according to Secretary Deb Haaland.
Congress in the Energy Act of 2020 set the permitting targets and instructed DoI to meet them through the Bureau of Land Management, one of its agencies that administers about 10% of the nation’s surface area.
Surpassing that milestone “underscores the significant progress we have made in helping build modern, resilient climate infrastructure that protects our communities from the worsening impacts of climate change,” said Haaland.
With two additional solar projects reaching commercial operation in California, there is more than 10GW of clean power capacity on federal lands, according to BLM.
BLM is currently processing permits for an additional 66 grid-scale clean energy projects proposed on federal lands in the western US with potential to add 32GW of capacity.
The US installed generation fleet comprises about 1.27TW of capacity with clean sources accounting for 29%.
DoI’s new rule to update renewable energy regulations on federal lands will reduce capacity fees for those projects by 80% and facilitate development in priority areas by streamlining application reviews.
The Energy Act of 2020 authorised BLM to reduce acreage rents and capacity fees to promote the greatest use of wind and solar energy resources. Today’s rule codifies further reductions, improving financial predictability for developers pursuing long-term projects on federal lands, according to the agency.
The rule maintains “appropriate flexibility” to ensure a fair return for the use of those lands. It also expands BLM’s ability to accept leasing applications in these priority areas without first going through a full auction, but it retains the ability to hold competitive auctions where appropriate.
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