United States Extends Western Solar Plan to Five Additional States

The Department of the Interior in the US has unveiled an updated plan for solar energy development on public lands, extending the Western Solar Plan to encompass five additional states, with intentions to allocate up to 22 million acres of land for solar projects.

This revamped Western Solar Plan, according to the department, aims to streamline the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) framework for siting solar energy projects, with the goal of achieving several outcomes. These include supporting national clean energy objectives, such as providing carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035, ensuring long-term energy security, and more.

The BLM, an agency within the US Department of the Interior, oversees the management of landscapes and natural resources in the US.

This new plan is an enhancement of the 2012 Western Solar Plan by BLM, which originally identified areas in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah with high solar potential and minimal resource conflicts. The plan aimed to guide responsible solar development and offer certainty to developers. In this updated roadmap, BLM extends its scope to five additional states: Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.

After collaborating with the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory to analyze forecasts for national clean energy needs, BLM determined that around 700,000 acres of public lands would be necessary to meet the clean energy goals. Consequently, BLM plans to make approximately 22 million acres of land available for solar application, providing "maximum flexibility" to achieve these goals.

The Department of the Interior notes that the BLM can efficiently permit clean energy while maintaining robust public and tribal engagement by directing development to areas with fewer sensitive resources, minimal conflict with other land uses, and close proximity to transmission lines.

In addition to the updated roadmap, the BLM has revealed that it is processing 67 utility-scale onshore solar, wind, and geothermal energy projects proposed on public lands in the western US, boasting a combined production capacity of 37GW.

Furthermore, the BLM is conducting the preliminary review of over 195 applications for solar and wind development, along with 97 applications for solar and wind energy site area testing.

Last November, the BLM made strides in 15 clean energy projects across the West, with two operational solar PV and storage plants in California. Progress has continued with environmental reviews for seven solar plants in Nevada, a solar and storage project in Arizona, and permitting milestones for transmission line upgrades in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah, as announced by the Department of the Interior.