BLM’s Photo voltaic Plan: Balancing Effectivity, Flexibility, & Conservation – CleanTechnica – Uplaza

Join every day information updates from CleanTechnica on electronic mail. Or comply with us on Google Information!

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

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

Right this moment’s publication of the Bureau of Land Administration’s (BLM) Closing Programmatic Environmental Impression Assertion (FPEIS) for photo voltaic vitality growth represents a brand new chapter in renewable vitality growth on federal public lands. With the FPEIS, the BLM has constructed on the success of the 2012 Western Photo voltaic Plan—underneath which ~40 new photo voltaic tasks with producing capability of 9 GW had been permitted by 2022—to put the foundations for federally managed lands to play an essential position in responsibly accelerating the clear vitality transition.

In 2012, the BLM revealed planning paperwork to assist the siting and growth of utility scale photo voltaic tasks 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 finest suited to vitality 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 practically 19 million acres (concerning the space of South Carolina) of lands exterior of devoted zones. And eventually, 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 replace represents a shift targeted on accelerating the clear vitality 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 deal with 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 referred to as “solar application areas.” In flip, the identification of those areas is now predicated totally on their proximity to present 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 tasks 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 massive recreation to visible sources. On this remaining proposed plan, the BLM has added a brand new factor of flexibility that might enable builders to pick out websites greater than 15 miles away from present and deliberate transmissions corridors. Nonetheless, this can solely be allowed the place that land has been recognized as “disturbed” by way of preliminary BLM mapping, with additional necessities for builders to validate its “disturbed” standing throughout the website choice and allow software course of.

In all, the proposed remaining plan permits greater than 31 million acres of land throughout the 11 western states to be thought of for attainable 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 essential to notice that the BLM’s growth situations — calculations which are primarily based on Division of Vitality modeling — solely anticipate a most of round 700,000 acres (about half the realm of Delaware) wanted for photo voltaic growth by 2045. That quantities to lower than two % of the 31 million acres being contemplated for mission functions. Relatively, 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 energy greater than 100 million properties.

However other than in search of 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 collection of up to date “programmatic design features” to assist refine the way in which tasks are sited, constructed, operated, and finally decommissioned and reclaimed. Within the remaining 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 could 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 further environmental, cultural, and different potential harms and supply the conservation group with the instruments it must work with the BLM and photo voltaic firms to make sure tasks are constructed within the lowest battle areas attainable.

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

Whereas creating flexibility and growing the financial viability of constructing solar energy on federal lands are important parts of the clear vitality transition, the 2024 Up to date Western Photo voltaic Plan isn’t excellent. Two parts particularly depart house for the BLM to additional refine how efficient the plan is for accelerating new growth whereas concurrently enhancing its means 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” signify a important display 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 considerations the place the BLM proposed counting on outdated useful resource surveys, outdated useful resource administration plans, and different incomplete knowledge inputs to map or outline included exclusion standards. Sadly, usually, the BLM seems to not have thought of approaches that may have allowed for up to date info to be thought of throughout the panorama degree software of exclusion standards. In apply, this can imply that software of newer and extra granular knowledge will happen on the mission degree, a course of which will decelerate the allowing of tasks as they transfer ahead underneath the up to date plan.

The BLM, thankfully, has further regulatory authorities which will assist it overcome the inefficiencies created by counting on previous knowledge. This will get to the second main factor of the up to date plan that may be improved shifting 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 course of, the BLM can apply a heightened degree of scrutiny to the broad acreage it has opened to determine the areas on disturbed land and/or near present transmission that signify the perfect, low battle areas for constructing new photo voltaic tasks. The good thing about taking this subsequent step is that these areas ought to end in important allowing efficiencies as a result of 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 vitality growth on federal public lands. It creates the rules wanted to entry a few of the nation’s most vital photo voltaic sources and balances business’s want for flexibility with the BLM’s mission of conserving our shared pure sources. We look ahead to working with the company, photo voltaic builders, and Congress to proceed pushing for the insurance policies wanted to really stability environment friendly useful resource growth with important conservation, all whereas accelerating progress towards a clear vitality future.

By Josh Axelrod, courtesy of NRDC.

Featured picture courtesy of BLM.