Biden administration announces clean energy growth on public lands

Clean energy on public lands is growing, with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) increasing its renewable energy permitting by 35 percent last fiscal year.

A new report from the federal government said that the bureau authorized or facilitated 12 public lands projects and supported the development of 2,890  megawatts — enough to power more than 300 million LED lights — of generating capacity from onshore wind, solar and geothermal energy. 

This is up significantly from the 2020 fiscal year’s 2,148 megawatts. Of the 12 fiscal 2021 projects, one was authorized in the final days of the Trump administration while the others were authorized during the Biden administration. 

A statement from the Interior Department, which oversees the bureau, predicted even more going forward, saying the department hopes to support more than 10,000 additional megawatts of renewable energy capacity by the end of next year. 

This would be almost twice as much as it currently supports. 

The new report also highlighted actions that the bureau is taking on clean energy, including hiring new staff to support its clean energy goals. It also said it was lowering rents and fees for wind and solar projects on public lands in California and was considering making additional reductions. 

In addition, the administration announced that it awarded its first-ever competitive solar energy leases in Utah. With the leases, Minersville Solar Energy LLC will build solar panels across 4,800 acres of public lands. 

According to the Interior Department, this will create more than 600 megawatts of electricity and also create about 200 construction jobs and 15 operations positions. 

And, it said it has issued a new memo aimed at speeding up ocean energy development by giving the bureau new screening measures and standardized methods for assessing solar grant applications and leasing requests. 

“The Department of the Interior continues to make significant progress in our efforts to spur a clean energy revolution, strengthen and decarbonize the nation’s economy, and help communities transition to a clean energy future,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in a statement. 

The announcements came in the week leading up to Earth Day, and the Biden administration has previously indicated that it would highlight clean energy accomplishments on Wednesday. 

Updated at 10:49 a.m.