The Biden administration said that it would start a process to find new locations for solar projects development in Western America. It is in order to speed up the approval of sustainable energy projects on public lands to battle climate change.
His administration has already made a promise earlier this year concerning this topic. Biden promised to significantly lower the cost of constructing wind and solar energy projects on federal lands in order to promote the growth of renewable energy sources and combat climate change.
Upgrading Obama’s solar projects plan
According to yesterday’s statement from the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, the Obama administration’s special zones for solar projects will be updated. The update is based on transmission access, solar energy potential, and safeguarding natural and cultural values.
The offices should also increase communication with other federal organizations. These include the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, and Defense as well as the Environmental Protection Agency.
The new strategy, according to the government, would take into account new transmission, advancements in solar technology, and the administration’s ambitious clean energy targets.
Additionally, the Interior stated that it might go beyond the six states included in the 2012 plan. Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah were the six states.
Solar projects as part of decarbonizing U.S. electricity grid
In order to achieve President Joe Biden’s goal of decarbonizing the American electricity grid by the year 2035, substantial volumes of new solar energy must be deployed quickly. Congress has directed the Interior in particular to allow 25 gigawatts of renewable energy on federal lands by 2025. That amount of energy can power about 4.75 million houses. Last year the U.S. Bureau of Land Management already approved 2.89 GW. There is an increase of 35% from two years before.
The organization declared that it was starting evaluations of three new projects in Arizona that would boost the grid’s capacity by a gigawatt.
Under Biden, the Interior has made an effort to allay concerns raised by the wind and solar industries that public lands are less conducive to development than private lands because of higher prices and onerous regulatory requirements.
The principal deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management at Interior, Laura Daniel-Davis, said in a statement that the Bureau of Land Management is aggressively working to ensure that its procedures and pace retain the momentum we are witnessing from the industry.
Solar industry representatives are happy with the plan
Shannon Eddy, president of the trade association for the large-scale solar industry, expressed her expectation that the new procedure will lead to more options for solar sites.
After years of lobbying by renewable energy entrepreneurs who claimed that leasing costs and other levies for facilities on federal lands were too exorbitant to attract investment, the new regulation is the result of their efforts.
The Department of Interior earlier this year issued a statement that leases and fees for solar and wind projects would decrease by almost 50%.
The new clean energy projects on public lands will also increase the number of employees handling environmental evaluations and permit requests for renewable energy sources.