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Policy Watch

Good Week for Power Lines, Bad Week for Offshore Wind

The most important renewable energy policies and decisions from the last few days.

Transmission and wind.
Fré Sonneveld / NOAA / Heatmap

Greenlink’s good day – The Interior Department has approved NV Energy’s Greenlink West power line in Nevada, a massive step forward for the Biden administration’s pursuit of more transmission.

  • The project will be linked to Arevia Power’s Libra Solar Project, which the BLM finished reviewing last month.
  • Interior also released a draft environmental review for the Greenlink North transmission project, a companion to Greenlink West.
  • While these approvals might lift the weight off some YIMBY chests, I wouldn’t be too sure this fight is over, judging by recent Fight interviewee Patrick Donnelly’s claim to the press that this decision could lead to listing the sage grouse as an endangered species. Do I smell litigation?

States’ offshore muddle – We saw a lot of state-level offshore wind movement this past week… and it wasn’t entirely positive. All of this bodes poorly for odds of a kumbaya political moment to the industry’s benefit any time soon.

Chumash loophole – Offshore wind did notch one win in northern California by securing an industry exception in a large marine sanctuary, providing for farms to be built in a corridor of the coastline.

  • The final Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary arrives with both an opening for offshore wind projects currently being planned and the blessing of the North Chumash Tribal Council – what appears to be a win-win.
  • Regulators say they’ll consider a potential expansion of the sanctuary in the “coming years” after transmission cables have been approved.

Here’s what else I’m watching …

  • The Supreme Court is apparently swamped with emergency requests from the energy industry and Republican states to intervene in anti-pollution regulation.
  • In Maine, activists are pushing the state to get more aggressive with its climate plans.
  • In Washington state, a ballot initiative threatens to repeal the state’s “cap and invest” climate law.

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Spotlight

A Wave of Anti-Renewables Bills Hits State Legislatures

It’s not just Trump.

Texas and Oklahoma
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

State legislatures are now a crucial battleground for the future of renewable energy, as Republican lawmakers seek massive restrictions and punitive measures on new solar and wind projects.

Once a hyperlocal affair, the campaign to curtail renewable energy development now includes state-wide setbacks, regulations, and taxes curtailing wind and solar power. As we previously reported, Oklahoma is one of those states – and may as soon as this year enact mandatory setback requirements on wind power facilities, despite getting nearly half its electricity from wind farms. According to a Heatmap Pro analysis, these rules would affect 65 of Oklahoma’s 77 counties.

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Q&A

Why Offshore Wind Might Survive in the South

A conversation with Katharine Kollins of the Southeastern Wind Coalition

Katherine Kollins
Heatmap Illustration

This week’s conversation is with Katharine Kollins of the Southeastern Wind Coalition, an advocacy group that supports offshore wind development in the American Southeast. I wanted to talk with Katherine about whether there are any silver linings in the offshore wind space, and to my surprise she actually had one! Here’s to hope springing eternal – and Trump leaving Coastal Virginia intact.

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

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Hotspots

Renewables Developers Get Sweaty Palms Across America

Here are the week’s top conflicts around clean energy in the U.S.

Map of renewable energy conflicts.
Heatmap Illustration

1. Barnstable County, Massachusetts – The SouthCoast offshore wind project will now be delayed for at least four years, developer Ocean Winds said on Friday, confirming my previous reporting that projects Biden seemed to fully approve were still at risk from Trump.

  • Biden’s Interior Department had said in December the SouthCoast project was “approved.” But according to this federal permitting data clearinghouse, the project still needs clearances from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as well as the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers. We previously reported the Army Corps of Engineers had all but frozen wetlands permitting for wind projects. Jury’s out on whether that has changed.

2. Albany County, New York – A judge in this county has cast a cloud over tax abatement calculations for essentially all solar and wind projects in the state.

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