The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has expanded the scope of potential solar development on federal lands, opening several more western states to gigawatts of PV deployment.
Credit: Alliant Energy
In January 2024, the Dept. of the Interior issued an update for the Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, also known as the Western Solar Plan, which formalized the processes for building solar on federal land west of the Rocky Mountains. The Western Solar Plan was published in 2012 and initially opened designated federal land in California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico to solar development. This latest update to the plan expands federal land in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming to solar development, as well.
“Solar energy is an affordable and fast-growing component of the nation’s modern power supply and is helping the United States build a strong and resilient clean energy economy. The updated Western Solar Plan will ensure that solar project permitting is more efficient and offers clarity for project developers while maintaining flexibility to adapt to local needs and concerns,” said Steve Feldgus, principal deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management, in a press release.
The 2012 version of the Western Solar Plan established a framework for permitting solar projects larger than 20 MW on federal land in those six initial states. It identified “solar energy zones,” or sites ripe for solar project development, and created parameters for PV project designs. It also laid out protections for minimizing construction impacts in those environments.
The updated Western Solar Plan designates 31 million acres of federal land across those 11 states for potential utility-scale solar deployment, representing nearly 13% of the federal land the bureau oversees in the West. However, the BLM doesn’t expect renewable energy development plans to exceed 700,000 acres of that land by 2045. It prioritized selecting remote land that was previously disturbed near transmission lines, and avoided plots with special protections, cultural resources, critical wildlife habitat and other active purposes.
Since 2021, the BLM approved 45 renewable energy projects on federal land (nine being solar), exceeding a national goal to permit 25 GW of clean energy projects on federal land by 2025. The Biden administration expects this momentum in federal project approval to increase because of streamlined permitting processes.
The White House issued a statement in August 2024 claiming that it reduced the median time necessary to complete hefty environmental impact statements by six months. The administration also said it more than doubled the number of clean energy projects developed on public lands compared to the Trump administration’s initial term.
“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 in a press release. “It will drive responsible solar development to locations with fewer potential conflicts while helping the nation transition to a clean energy economy, furthering the BLM’s mission to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.”
The BLM moved to approve the updated Western Solar Plan on December 20, 2024. Barring any interference from the incoming presidential administration, the potential for utility-scale solar deployment on federal lands could grow exponentially, substantially supporting the country’s goal to power the grid with clean energy by 2035.
Bring it on!