Department of the Interior announced updated roadmap for solar energy development across the West…announced next steps on projects in Arizona, California and Nevada – ~1,700 MW solar & 1,300 MW of storage.
During the Biden-Harris administration, the BLM has approved 47 clean energy projects and permitted 11,236 megawatts of wind, solar and geothermal energy on public lands.
BLM & NREL forecasted national clean energy needs and determined ~700,000 acres of public lands would be needed…BLM’s preferred alternative in the updated Western Solar Plan would provide approximately 22 million acres of land open for solar application, giving maximum flexibility to reach the nation’s clean energy goals.
The analysis announced today evaluates six alternatives, each proposing to make different amounts of public land available to solar development applications under different criteria such as proximity to transmission infrastructure, designated critical habitat, or other important ecological and cultural resources.