With the United States slated to aggressively push towards the use of renewable power sources instead of fossil fuels, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) says that such a matter is going to require the use of a substantial amount of land on which to build relevant facilities.
In an outline presented to the media on Tuesday, January 23rd, BLM officials presented an outline showing how around 22 million acres of land – an area about the size of the state of Maine – will be necessary for the placement of solar gathering, storage, and generation facilities.
Part of a new initiative to speed up the spread of renewable energy, particularly solar, into the west of the country, that much land will give developers and government officials greater flexibility with which to hit their targets.
Under the plan, around 700,000 acres of land will be covered with solar panels to meet the Biden Administration’s goal of a national power grid completely fueled by clean energy by 2035. This initiative will require serious work as, at present, only 34,000 acres of public land have been given over to solar power projects.
Time for the Sun
At present, solar power solutions only contribute just over 3% of the total amount of electricity generated in the United States. However, thanks to the benefits offered under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA,) many initiatives are getting a leg-up thanks to government subsidies for clean energy projects.
Several ongoing solar projects are currently being accelerated under the BLM, including the largest which is located in Nevada. This 5,500-acre facility is expected to generate enough green electricity to power over 200,000 households. Utility-grade solar generation may also experience an exponential growth spurt in the coming year – up to 75% – throwing in an additional 79,000 megawatts of power.
