BLM’s Solar Plan: Balancing Efficiency, Flexibility, & Conservation

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The Bureau of Land Administration’s up to date Western Photo voltaic Plan will information photo voltaic power siting and growth throughout 11 western states for the subsequent decade.

A basis for sensible siting of solar energy on federal public lands

Right now’s publication of the Bureau of Land Administration’s (BLM) Ultimate Programmatic Environmental Influence Assertion (FPEIS) for photo voltaic power growth represents a brand new chapter in renewable power growth on federal public lands. With the FPEIS, the BLM has constructed on the success of the 2012 Western Solar Plan—beneath which ~40 new photo voltaic initiatives with producing capability of 9 GW have been permitted through 2022—to put the foundations for federally managed lands to play an necessary position in responsibly accelerating the clear power transition.

In 2012, the BLM published planning paperwork to help the siting and growth of utility scale photo voltaic initiatives throughout six western states. The plan launched the idea of “Solar Energy Zones” designed to proactively direct and incentivize growth to areas the company felt greatest suited to power manufacturing and avoidance of useful resource conflicts. The identical doc additionally launched the “variance area” idea, which created a extra versatile strategy for builders to submit proposals for growth on almost 19 million acres (in regards to the space of South Carolina) of lands outdoors of devoted zones. And at last, the plan mapped “exclusion areas,” or federal lands the place sure forms of useful resource conflicts (like endangered species habitat or lands with wilderness traits) meant that growth was inappropriate or particularly dangerous.

The 2024 update represents a shift centered on accelerating the clear power transition by incorporating classes discovered from the implementation of the unique 2012 photo voltaic plan. By adopting significant siting and growth efficiencies whereas sustaining a concentrate on minimizing environmental impacts, the 2024 plan lays the groundwork for accelerating photo voltaic growth that additionally maintains core environmental siting and land administration safeguards.

Gone are new “Solar Energy Zones” and the “variance areas” that outlined the 2012 plan, changed by a single land designation now often known as “solar application areas.” In flip, the identification of those areas is now predicated totally on their proximity to current and deliberate transmission corridors—a key innovation within the BLM’s strategy meant to make sure lands open to mission functions correspond to the locations the place it’s economical to construct photo voltaic initiatives and join them to the grid. These areas near transmission are then refined additional by the appliance of 21 exclusion standards meant to guard environmental and different sources, starting from endangered species to wildlands to large recreation to visible sources. On this ultimate proposed plan, the BLM has added a brand new factor of flexibility that would permit builders to pick websites greater than 15 miles away from current and deliberate transmissions corridors. Nonetheless, it will solely be allowed the place that land has been recognized as “disturbed” through preliminary BLM mapping, with additional necessities for builders to validate its “disturbed” standing in the course of the website choice and allow utility course of.

In all, the proposed ultimate plan permits greater than 31 million acres of land throughout the 11 western states to be thought-about for potential photo voltaic growth, with greater than 75 % of those lands recognized in Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Regardless of that considerably eye-popping acreage, it’s necessary to notice that the BLM’s growth situations — calculations which might be based mostly on Division of Power modeling — solely anticipate a most of round 700,000 acres (about half the world of Delaware) wanted for photo voltaic growth by means of 2045. That quantities to lower than two % of the 31 million acres being contemplated for mission functions. Moderately, having a big portion of lands obtainable for growth affords the BLM maximize siting flexibility. This strategy will assist facilitate the potential growth of greater than 136 GW of electrical producing capability, or sufficient to power more than 100 million homes.

However apart from looking for to slender down obtainable acreage to these areas with good growth potential and fewer ecological and land use conflicts, the ultimate proposed plan will use a set of up to date “programmatic design features” to assist refine the way in which initiatives are sited, constructed, operated, and finally decommissioned and reclaimed. Within the ultimate proposal, the BLM has considerably improved these design options by streamlining and categorizing them into three buckets: (1) those who apply to each mission, (2) those who apply if particular sources are current or impacted; and (3) those who might apply on a project-by-project foundation. Because the BLM explains within the FPEIS, design options are included to, for instance, “modify() a project area to avoid habitat or cultural resources.” Ideally, these options will assist builders keep away from extra environmental, cultural, and different potential harms and supply the conservation group with the instruments it must work with the BLM and photo voltaic corporations to make sure initiatives are constructed within the lowest battle areas potential.

Learn how to enhance on the up to date plan’s broad basis?

Whereas creating flexibility and rising the financial viability of constructing solar energy on federal lands are important parts of the clear power transition, the 2024 Up to date Western Photo voltaic Plan isn’t good. Two parts specifically depart house for the BLM to additional refine how efficient the plan is for accelerating new growth whereas concurrently enhancing its capability to keep away from harms to the broad vary of sources positioned throughout the 11 states within the planning space.

First, whereas the 21 “exclusion criteria” symbolize a important display screen that retains thousands and thousands of acres off limits to photo voltaic growth, the info underlying the factors is, in some situations, missing. In feedback responding to the draft PEIS, environmental organizations from throughout the nation identified particular issues the place the BLM proposed counting on outdated useful resource surveys, outdated useful resource administration plans, and different incomplete information inputs to map or outline included exclusion standards. Sadly, normally, the BLM seems to not have thought-about approaches that may have allowed for up to date info to be thought-about in the course of the panorama stage utility of exclusion standards. In apply, it will imply that utility of newer and extra granular information will happen on the mission stage, a course of that will decelerate the allowing of initiatives as they transfer ahead beneath the up to date plan.

The BLM, happily, has extra regulatory authorities that will assist it overcome the inefficiencies created by counting on outdated information. This will get to the second main factor of the up to date plan that may be improved transferring ahead (even when the plan itself is finalized as is). This second space of enchancment has to do with using the BLM’s course of for figuring out “designated leasing areas” (DLA), that are primarily the “solar energy zones” that the company selected to not refresh within the up to date plan. Using the DLA designation processthe BLM can apply a heightened stage of scrutiny to the broad acreage it has opened to determine the areas on disturbed land and/or near current transmission that symbolize the easiest, low battle areas for constructing new photo voltaic initiatives. The advantage of taking this subsequent step is that these areas ought to lead to vital allowing efficiencies because of the pre-application of useful resource battle screens earlier than a mission is even proposed within the space.

The finalization of the up to date Western Photo voltaic Plan is a giant step ahead for the BLM and accountable renewable power growth on federal public lands. It creates the rules wanted to entry a few of the nation’s most important photo voltaic sources and balances business’s want for flexibility with the BLM’s mission of conserving our shared pure sources. We sit up for working with the company, photo voltaic builders, and Congress to proceed pushing for the policies needed to actually stability environment friendly useful resource growth with important conservation, all whereas accelerating progress towards a clear power future.

By Josh Axelrod, courtesy of NRDC.

Featured picture courtesy of BLM.