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Spotlight

Trump Just Permitted a Solar Farm

Are more on the way?

Donald Trump.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The Trump administration appears to be advancing solar projects through the permitting process now.

After a temporary halt to permitting for solar projects, the Bureau of Land Management told me a few weeks ago that it had lifted the pause, but I had told you I would wait for confirmation to see whether projects could actually move through government permitting. On Friday, the Bureau of Land Management publicly confirmed that federal solar permitting can happen again, formally approving the Leeward Renewable’s Elisabeth solar project in Yuma County, Arizona – what appears to be the first utility-scale solar facility on federal acreage approved by the Trump administration.

The Elisabeth project is located in a remote part of southwestern Arizona in the Agua Caliente Solar Energy Zone, an area designated for solar energy leasing that has existed for more than a decade, and is adjacent to other large solar projects that have been previously approved according to BLM.

On the same day, BLM released a draft environmental review of a separate solar project in Arizona that the agency segregated land for late last year at the same time as Elisabeth: the Avantus’ Pinyon solar-plus-storage project, which is open for public comment through late May. Tucked on page 37 of that draft document was a list of other solar projects in the nearby vicinity on federal lands that have yet to enter the federal permitting process under the National Environmental Policy Act, which BLM dubbed as “reasonably foreseeable” impacts to the cumulative environment.

The fact BLM is willing to admit other solar projects could advance later on is significant after the sputtering seen in the earliest days of the Trump administration. We’d seen hints of progress seeping through updates to BLM webpages. In mid April, we reported the agency quietly updated the timetable for the Esmerelda 7 mega-solar project in Nevada to say the agency would issue a final decision on the project this summer. I took a peek through the BLM data and found other examples of the same thing, including the Bonanza solar farm, which is now expected to receive its final environmental impact statement in June according to the project website.

BLM has also moved forward with transmission lines on federal lands that would go to solar projects off federal lands, indicating a level of agnosticism about connecting solar farms to the grid if the energy is generated on private property.

It’s still not clear whether solar permits will be a steady trickle for the foreseeable future or if this form of renewable energy could benefit from the Trump administration’s desires to maximize energy generation. Take all of this with a grain of salt because at any moment, a news cycle or disgruntled legislator could steal the president’s ear and make him angry at solar power.

But in times as chaotic as these for U.S. renewables developers, we’ll take this ray of sunshine.

Yellow

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Q&A

How the GOP Tax Bill Would Supercharge Renewable Energy NIMBYs

A conversation with Jillian Blanchard of Lawyers for Good Government about the heightened cost of permitting delays

Jillian Blanchard.
Heatmap Illustration

This week I chatted with Jillian Blanchard, vice president of climate change and environmental justice with Lawyers for Good Government, an organization that has been supporting beneficiaries of the Inflation Reduction Act navigate the uncertainties surrounding tax credits and grant programs under the Trump administration. The reason I wanted to chat with Jillian is simple: the IRA is under threat for the first time under a Republican Congress. I wanted to understand how solar and wind projects could be impacted by the House Republican reconciliation bill and putting IRA tax credits in doubt. I learned a lot.

The following conversation was lightly edited for clarity.

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Hotspots

It’s Hard Out Here for a Tiny Solar Farm in Upstate New York

And more of the week’s biggest conflicts around renewable energy projects.

The United States.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

1. St. Lawrence County, New York – It’s hard out here for a 2-megawatt solar project in upstate New York.

  • A Delaware River Solar project proposed in the town of Madrid is sparking fire concerns, with county officials now supposedly seeking guidance from the state on the risk of a blaze occurring from any solar farms or energy storage sites attached to them. Madrid reportedly has a new solar moratorium in effect through October, though one can imagine it being extended or revised to apply to this project if officials can’t be brought on board.

2. McKean County, Pennsylvania – Swift Current Energy is now dealing with an insurgent opposition campaign against its Black Cherry wind project.

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Spotlight

Offshore Wind Opponents Zero in on Their Next Two Targets

Will Sunrise Wind and Revolution Wind get the Trump treatment?

Offshore wind and a whale.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The sharks of opposition are circling the American offshore wind industry, as they await the federal government’s next victims.

This week, we received news that Equinor – developer of the Empire Wind project – is inching towards potentially canceling development after a visit to Washington and the White House yielded little success. In addition, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Fox Business that the department is now reviewing all offshore wind permits issued under the Biden administration.

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Yellow