{"id":104715,"date":"2024-01-16T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/\/?p=104715"},"modified":"2024-01-22T10:52:25","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T15:52:25","slug":"the-promise-and-challenge-of-solar-on-government-owned-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/\/2024\/01\/the-promise-and-challenge-of-solar-on-government-owned-property\/","title":{"rendered":"The promise and challenge of solar on government-owned property"},"content":{"rendered":"

State and federal agencies have recently embraced the economic and environmental benefits that come with siting solar power on government-owned property. The Dept. of the Interior (DOI) recently proposed new rules<\/a> to responsibly boost renewable energy deployment on public lands, showing the federal government can be a leader in combating climate change and contributing to greening and growing the nation\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur public lands are playing a critical role in the clean energy transition,\u201d said Tracy Stone-Manning, Bureau of Land Management director, a sentiment increasingly shaping the actions taken by our nation\u2019s policymakers. But just as quickly as government leadership can start a green movement, inconsistent policies can slow progress already in motion.<\/p>\n

Growth of solar on government land<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Government support of locally sited solar has been growing quickly. Development on brownfields like landfills is becoming an increasingly common solution<\/a> for municipalities. In 2021, local governments installed 207 MW of solar power on brownfields<\/a>, a 10-fold increase on brownfield solar installed just one year previously. Local schools are also involved in the trend \u2014 about 8,400 American schools<\/a>, many of them public, had solar in 2022, triple the collective solar capacity they\u2019d had eight years before.<\/p>\n

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Municipalities are increasingly putting solar on underused land like capped landfills. Credit: CEP Renewables<\/p><\/div>\n

Support is also strong at a federal level. The DOI\u2019s new rules promote development on public lands by reducing project leasing fees by about 80%. The Bureau of Land Management has been re-evaluating the amount of public land<\/a> available for utility-scale solar in the Southwest to accelerate clean energy growth.\u00a0And the Dept. of Energy recently released<\/a> clean energy performance standards that encourage federal buildings under construction to incorporate solar.<\/p>\n

Selah Goodson Bell, energy justice campaigner for the Center for Biological Diversity, said that federal officials seem increasingly receptive to solar on government-owned land and that several agencies have provided direct funding and assistance for a variety of projects on municipal or Tribal-owned land.<\/p>\n

For example, the Gila River Indian Community<\/a> is partnering with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build community solar systems over the area\u2019s canals. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is supporting a floating solar array<\/a> on a 10-acre reservoir in New York that will power municipal buildings in a town largely populated by low- and moderate-income (LMI) residents.<\/p>\n

States, regardless of geography or politics, are starting to figure out how to support more solar deployment on public land too. Maine is moving forward with three projects along its interstates<\/a> and near the Augusta State Airport. The projects will reduce the state\u2019s electricity costs by over $7 million over 20 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce online, these arrays will help reduce costs for taxpayers and reduce emissions from state power consumption, in support of Gov. Mills\u2019 direction for state government to lead by example in renewable energy and sustainability,\u201d said Kirsten Figueroa, commissioner of the Maine Dept. of Administrative and Financial Services, in a press statement.<\/p>\n

California recently floated a $20 million state-funded endeavor to cover irrigation canals<\/a> with solar panels. The project is predicted to bring multiple economic and ecological benefits to stakeholders and communities, but recent policymaking within the state threatens to halt these mutually beneficial projects.<\/p>\n

The curious case of California<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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A rendering of solar panels spanning the 110-ft-wide Turlock Irrigation District\u2019s main canal as part of Project Nexus in California. Credit: Project Nexus<\/p><\/div>\n

California has largely backed solar in all corners of the state. Late last year Gov. Newsom signed into law a provision that encourages solar deployment along the state\u2019s highways, something heralded<\/a> as a creative way of using available spaces and showcasing the potential of roadsides.<\/p>\n

However, policy in the state has also been contradictory as of late, with disastrous effects.<\/p>\n

Recent changes to net metering<\/a> by the California Public Utilities Commission greatly undermines the economic value of schools and other government-owned properties going solar. Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar & Storage Association, said rooftop solar is the most cost-effective way to deploy clean energy, as it doesn\u2019t require additional transmission infrastructure. She said it\u2019s confounding for the state to explore solar on government property like freeways and aqueducts while crushing the market for solar on the roof of a government building where the power can be used locally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find it really off the mark to be putting so much emphasis on other, more difficult ways to build solar when we should be prioritizing shoring this market back up, getting it back on track before more companies go bankrupt,\u201d Del Chiaro said. \u201cPutting solar up on long highways is cool, but it is not the easiest or most cost-effective way to go solar and shouldn\u2019t come ahead of installing it on roofs and over parking lots.\u201d<\/p>\n

The role of equity and ecosystem impact<\/strong><\/h4>\n

California isn’t the only state experiencing difficulties with renewables policy and siting solar on government land. It can be a challenge to forward government investment in solar and energy storage on public land in a way that does not sacrifice local ecosystems or overlook environmental justice communities.<\/p>\n

Bell explained that the Center for Biological Diversity presses state regulators \u201cto identify and remedy the social inequities and ecological harm of the fossil fuel-dependent energy system\u201d and cease their habit of \u201cignoring vulnerable communities, air and water pollution in deference to lopsided cost-benefit analyses that benefits polluting industries and for-profit utility companies.\u201d He pointed to Florida<\/a>, Indiana<\/a> and Georgia<\/a> as examples of states where investor-owned utilities have extensively lobbied to gut incentives for distributed solar.<\/p>\n

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A solar installation at a Southern California school. Credit: REP Solar<\/p><\/div>\n

However, some cities, municipalities and Tribes across the country are successfully deploying solar on government-owned land in ways that benefit nearby disadvantaged communities. Bell explained that state and federal stakeholders tend to serve as important sources of funding and technical assistance.<\/p>\n

One of the Center\u2019s main focuses, he said, is limiting government investment only to responsibly sited and well-planned renewable energy projects that protect the desert, public lands, wildlife and communities.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Ideal projects] are paired with storage and sited in or near the community, prioritize communities for which the community solar can displace fossil fuel generation and provide pathways to community ownership of the project,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n

Bell spotlighted four projects located on government-owned land or property that come close to meeting these criteria:<\/p>\n