Another Boost For Renewables: 17 'Solar Energy Zones' Promise Fast-Track Development

The U.S. Secretary of the Interior has finalized a new solar energy roadmap that has the potential to mitigate permitting risks that have stymied solar development on federal land. The program creates an initial set of 17 Solar Energy Zones (SEZs) on 285,000 combined acres of public land that will serve as priority areas for utility-scale solar development. The zones are located in six western states, with more than half of the designated acreage in California's Riverside County. The Department of the Interior characterized the sites as having excellent solar resources, access to existing or planned transmission, and relatively low conflict with biological, cultural and historic resources.

The SEZ Program includes incentives for solar development within the zones, including streamlined permitting. It is anticipated that most, if not all, right-of-way authorizations will be approved by high-level officials at the Bureau of Land Management, and not be subject to administrative appeal. Financial incentives to develop within the SEZs include phase-in rental fee schedules and fixed rental payments for the life of the right-of-way authorization. Additionally, the Bureau of Land Management plans to actively facilitate transmission planning processes at the state and regional level, and provide incentives to projects that will bring transmission to SEZs.

Perhaps the greatest value of the program is that the SEZ sites have already undergone programmatic environmental review and public comment pursuant to the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA). Many renewable energy projects struggle with complex, multiyear permitting processes and onerous mitigation requirements. The protection of sensitive species and cultural resources has led to time-consuming and costly litigation for many of these projects. The SEZ Program's prescreening of potential sites promises to significantly reduce the likelihood of these conflicts, and should resonate with the renewable development community, as well as its investors and lenders.

The Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the SEZ Program was prepared collaboratively by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Department of Energy. During review of the Draft and Supplemental Draft PEIS, approximately 200,000 comments were submitted by industry, conservationists, and outdoor recreationists, as well as tribal, state, and local governments.

Solar developers applying for right-of-way...