CAPITOL facts & figuresenergy & environment

the council of state governments no

v 2012

Major Federal Goals Achieved for Siting Renewable Energy Projects and the Challenges Ahead

The U.S. Department of the Interior in October passed an important milestone in approving renewable energy proj-ects on public lands a full three years ahead of objectives set forth by federal law. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Oct. 9, 2012, announced approval for the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy project located in southern Wyoming. With that approval, the Obama administra-tion passed the benchmark of approving siting for 10,000 megawatts of renewable energy projects.1

According to a fact sheet provided by the Bureau of Land Management, the 220,000-acre project will feature 1,000 wind turbines with a capacity to generate up to 3,000 megawatts of electricity, which is enough power for 1 million homes.

Obstacles remain, however, for fully implementing these and other renewable projects from preliminary stages to actual operation and connection to the grid. Detractors of large, commercial-scale renewable energy projects on public land often raise concerns over the potentially harm-ful impacts to endangered species and essential habitat associated with the technologies employed and the signifi-cant amount of land required for projects. When consider-ing construction and siting of electric transmission power lines, state and federal regulators face difficult questions about how to bring renewable energy generated in remote areas to the markets where power is needed.

Authority and Siting Trends • Section 211 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 included

a nonbinding goal to urge the Secretary of the Interior “to have approved non-hydropower renewable energy projects located on the public lands with a generation capacity of at least 10,000 megawatts of electricity” within 10 years.2

• Before 2009, the Bureau of Land Management had never approved a solar project on public land, and up to that time only limited amounts of wind and geother-mal projects had been sited.

• Approvals since 2009 have included 6,126 megawatts of solar energy, 3,863 megawatts of wind energy and 425 megawatts of geothermal power, for a total of 10,413 megawatts of additional capacity.

Transmission Obstacles and Needs• The need for electricity infrastructure overall is stag-

gering. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, up to $1.5 trillion will be needed by 2030 to maintain, modernize and update the nation’s electric generation, transmission and distribution systems.3

• State renewable portfolio standards, federal planning directives and concerns about greenhouse gas emissions have driven strong interest in alternative energy projects, as well as their integration into the electric grid.

• The challenge—especially in the western U.S.—is that ideal locations for generating commercial-scale renewable energy projects are located in rural areas many miles away from distribution and load centers, which will require several thousand miles of new electric transmission lines.4 Determining the rationale for who pays for those new lines has been a source of contentious debate, especially when multiple states are involved.

• A March 2012 report by the Edison Electric Institute, the umbrella organization representing investor-owned utilities, said its members are in the midst of

implementing 13,000 miles of transmission line additions and upgrades to integrate renewables, reflecting upward of $49 billion in company investments.5

• According to a 2012 study by the Western Gov-ernors Association, state policies are expected to double the amount of renewable energy produced in the West by 2022. The report went on to say, “Integrating these resources into a reliable and affordable power system will require an unprec-edented level of cooperative action within the electric industry and between the industry and state, subregional and federal entities.”6

• CSG created a Transmission Line Site Compact Advisory Panel, under the auspices of the National Center for Interstate Compacts, to facili-tate the development of regional interstate com-pacts intended to improve coordination among stakeholders in the siting and permitting process for interstate projects.

Environmental and Conservation Group Concerns• Environmental groups like the American Bird

Conservancy have expressed opposition to certain large wind farm projects they believe do not properly mitigate injuring or killing bird popula-tions—particularly species of eagles, songbirds, sage grouse and water fowl. This group and others often cite a 2009 paper from a U.S Fish and Wild-life Service official that estimated wind turbines kill up to 440,000 birds per year.7

• The conservancy and the Biodiversity Conserva-tion Alliance have opposed the most recent wind

project sited by the Bureau of Land Management on the grounds that it did not consider other alternatives as required under the National En-vironmental Policy Act to avoid up to 64 golden eagle deaths per year.8

• Pressures to find enough habitat for endangered or threatened species, due to the large footprint needed for some utility projects, have caused significant problems and delays. For example, the discovery of an endangered species of desert tortoise on the site of a $2.2 billion solar project in California delayed construction and cost more than $56 million in species protection and reloca-tion expenses.9

REFERENCES1 Bureau of Land Management. ”Bureau of Land Management Record of Decision Project Fact Sheet.” October 9, 2012. http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wy/information/NEPA/ccsm.Par.7232.File.dat/CCSM_Factsheet.pdf2”The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (PL 109-58), Section 211.” http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-109publ58/pdf/PLAW-109publ58.pdf 3”Report Card for America’s Infrastructure 2009.” American Society of Civil Engineers. http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/fact-sheet/energy 4”Transmission Siting in the Western United States: Overview and Recommendations Prepared as Information to the Western Interstate Energy Board.” August 2009. James Holtkamp and Mark Davidson, Holland and Hart, LLP , p. 6. http://www.dora.state.co.us/puc/projects/TransmissionSiting/SB11-45/SitingDocuments/TransmissionSitingWesternUS_forWIEB08-2009.pdf 5”Transmission Projects: At a Glance.” March 2012. Edison Electric Institute, p. xiii http://www.eei.org/ourissues/ElectricityTransmission/Documents/Trans_Project_lowres.pdf 6”Meeting Renewable Energy Targets in the West at Least Cost: The Integration Challenge.” June 10, 2012. Western Governors Association, p. 1. http://www.westgov.org/reports?start=4 7“Towers, Turbines, Power Lines, and Buildings – Steps Being Taken by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to Avoid or Minimize Take of Migratory Birds at These Structures.” October 2009 Albert Manville, Division of Migratory Bird Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service. P, 268. http://www.partnersinflight.org/pubs/mcallenproc/articles/pif09_anthropogenic%20impacts/manville_pif09.pdf 8“Some Conservation Groups Fret Over Interior’s Approval of Massive Wyo. Wind Farm.” Scott Streater, Greenwire. October 10, 2012. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/2012/10/10/12 9“Saving Desert Tortoises is a Costly Hurdle for Solar Projects.” Julie Cart, Los Angeles Times. March 4, 2012. http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/04/local/la-me-solar-tortoise-20120304

Brydon Ross, CSG Director of Energy & Environmental Policy | bross@csg.org

state Project name capacity

(megawatts, mW) Blm Project acerage approval Date operational Date

arizona sonoran solar Project 300 mW 4,000 12/20/11Pending power purchase

agreement

california imperial valley solar Project 709 mW 6,360 10/5/10Project terminated at developer

request

california lucerne valley solar Project 45 mW 516 10/5/10Pending power purchase

agreement

californiaivanpah solar electric

generating system370 mW 3,472 10/17/10 may 2013

california calico solar energy Project 663.5 mW 4,604 10/20/10 nov. 2013california Blythe solar Power Project 1,000 mW 7,025 10/22/10 Development plan being revisedcalifornia genesis solar energy 250 mW 4,640 11/4/10 march 2014california abengoa mojave solar 250 mW 0 (connected action) 7/11/11 spring 2013california c solar south 200 mW 0 (connected action) 7/14/11 June 2013california Desert sunlight solar farm 550 mW 4,165 8/9/11 nov. 2014california c solar West 250 mW 0 (connected action) 8/23/11 Jan. 2015california rice solar energy 150 mW 0 (connected action) 12/8/11 2014california centinela solar energy 275 mW 0 (connected action) 12/28/11 2013california campo verde solar Project 139 mW 0 (connected action) 9/26/12 end of 2013california tule Wind energy Project 186 mW 12,133 (connected action) 12/20/11 end of 2013

californiaocotillio express Wind

energy facility 315 mW 10,151 5/11/12 Dec. 2012

nevadasilver state solar energy

Project50 mW 618 10/12/10 in operation, may 2012

nevadaamargosa farm road solar

Project464 mW 4,350 11/15/10

Pending power purchase

agreementnevada cresent Dunes solar Project 110 mW 1,600 12/20/10 Dec. 2013nevada moapa solar Project 350 mW 2,000 (tribal land) 6/21/12 end of 2013nevada spring valley Wind Project 150 mW 7,673 10/15/10 in operation, June 2012

nevadasalt Wells #1 geothermal

Project18 mW 3,794 apr-09 in operation

nevadaBlue mountain geothermal

Power Plant49 mW 5,252 (connected action) 10/22/09 in operation

nevadaJersey valley geothermal

Project30 mW 7,460 (connected action) 6/4/10 in operation

nevadacoyote canyon geothermal

Project62 mW 3,960 3/7/11 Pending exploration wells

nevadamcginness hills geother-

mal Project90 mW 7,680 7/11/11 end of 2012

nevadahot sulfur springs/tusca-

rora geothermal15 mW 0 (connected action) 7/29/11 nov. 2012

nevadasalt Wells geothermal

Project40 mW 6,948 9/28/11 Dec. 2014

nevada

salt Wells (gradient

resources) geothermal

Project

120 mW 15,622 9/8/11 Dec. 2014

oregon lime Wind energy Project 4 mW 3 12/17/09 in operation, november 2011oregon West Butte Wind 100 mW 0 (connected action) 7/14/11 end of 2014

oregonechanis Wind/north steens

transmission104 mW 0 (connected action) 12/28/11 end of 2013

Wyomingchokecherry and sierra

madre Wind energy Project3,000 mW 102,207 10/9/12 end of 2014

Table Source:

U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/energy/renewable_energy/Renewable_Energy_Projects_Approved_to_Date.html25-Oct-12

Renewable Energy Projects Approved by the Bureau of Land Management since 2009