Federal Agency Releases Plan to Open 31 Million Acres of Public Land to Solar Development

The Kayenta Solar Plant in Kayenta, Ariz., on June 23, 2024. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

The Biden administration has proposed opening 31 million acres of federal public lands across 11 states to solar energy development, dramatically expanding the growing industry’s footprint while streamlining permitting and regulatory requirements.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will formally publish its proposed Western Solar Plan regulatory “road map” in the Federal Register on Aug. 30. It could be enacted before year’s end.

The proposed final plan is one of six the agency reviewed. Its draft was opened for public comment in January 2024. After being posted in the Federal Register, it can be implemented after a 30-day protest period and a 60-day “consistency review” by the 11 affected states’ governors’ offices.

The proposed Western Solar Plan updates BLM’s 2012 solar regulatory guidelines and adds five states to the six where BLM had opened nearly 20 million acres to potential solar development. Less than 900,000 acres are now being used by solar energy developers.

The BLM regulates land use on more than 245 million surface acres of federal public lands and 700 million acres of “subsurface mineral estate” primarily across 12 western states. The agency manages more than 10 percent of the nation’s entire land mass.

The proposed plan selected 31 million acres for solar development out of 162 million acres it reviewed. A key consideration is development can occur only on sites within 15 miles of existing or planned electricity transmission lines on lands categorized as “previously disturbed.”

The proposed plan will “improve the solar energy project application process” by excluding regions where environmental protections would be necessary to avoid “fewer potential conflicts,” BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning said in a statement.

BLM has opened lands in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah to solar development. The proposed plan opens federal public lands in Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), which represents the nation’s $60 billion solar energy industry, applauded the addition of 11 million acres and five states to solar development.

“For over 12 years SEIA has advocated for leveling the playing field for renewables and increasing public land access for solar and storage development,” SEIA Vice President for Regulatory Affairs Ben Norris said in a statement.

Noting the plan is “a step in the right direction,” Norris said solar energy developers still won’t have access to the 80 million acres of federal public lands available for oil and gas development.

BLM has approved nine solar energy projects since 2023 on federal public lands. With 13 geothermal projects and 18 involving generation interconnect lines with power plants, they will generate 29 gigawatts (GW) to power more than 12 million homes, surpassing its goal of permitting 25 GWs of clean energy projects on public lands by 2025.

According to figures posted Aug. 28 by the Department of Energy in its 2024 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER), nearly 365,000 people work in the nation’s solar industry, a workforce that grew by 18,401, or 5.3 percent, in 2023.

The SEIA projects the U.S. domestic solar industry workforce will double to more than 500,000 within a decade.