Finalized federal plan outlines future of Nevada, Western solar development

Nearly one-fifth of Nevada’s public lands could open up to utility-scale solar development under the Bureau of Land Management’s final Western Solar Plan — drawing the support of solar developers and the ire of conservationists.

The document released Thursday designates about 18,000 square miles or 11.8 million acres — roughly 17 percent — of the state’s public lands for possible large-scale solar projects, identified as 5 megawatts and larger.

Currently, only about 15 percent of the state’s BLM-administered land is available for possible solar development. In addition to calling for nearly 12 million acres in Nevada to be open to solar development, the final plan increases the total acreage available across the West from 22 million to 31 million acres.

Nevada lacks a statewide strategy to guide renewable energy development across the state’s 70.2 million acres. With the BLM managing 48 million of those acres, the Western Solar Plan has a potentially disproportionate effect on Nevada compared to other Western states.

Clean-energy groups and solar developers have spoken in favor of the plan, but environmental groups worry it will limit access to public lands and open up large swaths of virgin land up to development.

Changes from the draft plan 

The BLM released a draft plan in January that would have opened anywhere between 1.6 million and 18.3 million acres of Nevada’s land for development and 22 million acres nationwide. The agency’s preferred alternative recommended 7 million acres for development in Nevada.

Despite the millions of acres opened up in the plan, the BLM estimates that just up to 700,000 acres (less than half of 1 percent) of the land it oversees in the West could be needed through 2045 for new, utility-scale solar energy projects.

That acreage is much smaller than the 31 million acres earmarked by the agency, allowing the BLM to “maximize initial siting opportunities for solar projects while minimizing potential environmental impacts,” the plan states. The plan also states that the overabundance of potential sites for solar plants “provides the public, solar developers, and the BLM flexibility to respond to local siting issues and concerns.”

The final plan also permits solar development on land with slopes of as much as 10 percent (the old plan allowed for slopes as much as 5 percent) and within 15 miles of transmission lines or on previously disturbed lands. The draft plan issued in January OK’d land for solar development within 10 miles of 100 kilovolt or greater transmission lines. In addition to increasing the distance to within 15 miles of transmission lines, the final plan decreases the capacity requirement to 69 kilovolts because those smaller lines may be upgraded to carry the power loads from solar energy facilities.

The new plan also removes a process whereby the BLM must grant variances to allow utility-scale solar development outside certain, pre-designated areas.

Reaction

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), a pro-solar trade group, issued a press release Thursday supporting the plan.

“While we’re still reviewing the details, we’re pleased to see that BLM listened to much of the solar industry’s feedback and added 11 million acres to its original proposal,” Ben Norris, vice president of SEIA’s regulatory affairs, stated in the release.

The Clean Air Task Force, a global nonprofit environmental group, also voiced support for the new plan.

But Nevada conservation groups worry the modifications make more land available under more permissive circumstances than proposed in the draft.

Solar developments potentially limit access to public lands, contrasting with the BLM’s multiple use mission, Kevin Emmerich, co-founder of Basin and Range Watch, said in an email.

“Large-scale solar energy takes the ‘public’ out of public lands by turning over our treasures to one corporate interest,” he said.

Ashley Lee, board president of the Amargosa Conservancy, said the group has fears about what the plan could mean for the Amargosa River watershed.

Roughly 300,000 acres of the watershed is open to solar development under the plan released today, she said, including areas bordering Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge and Death Valley National Park.

“The Amargosa River watershed is an irreplaceable gem of the Mojave Desert, and we can’t let it be destroyed for industrial energy development,” Lee said in an email.

Previously, solar development in the state was guided by the BLM’s original Western Solar Plan, released in 2012 just two years after the BLM approved its first utility-scale project on public land.

The original plan guided development in Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. The new plan extends solar development options on public land in five additional states — Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming.

As of June, the BLM had permitted 62 solar projects in the Western United States. The BLM is processing 70 additional clean-energy projects and preliminarily reviewing 166 solar and wind applications.

The final plan is now open for a 30-day protest period, allowing people and groups that have already commented on the plan to raise concerns. Following resolution of any identified issues, the BLM will publish its record of decision and final resource management plan.