A❤️449-word🧡under 3-minute💚read
I was struck by a pair of stories that were polar opposites. Both revolve around the solar landscape in California. Together, they are an example of the yin and yang of renewable energy, and why the industry worries extend beyond the edicts from Washington.
But before getting into the California stories, a note on those Washington edicts.
I recently warned that solar and wind should brace for more bad news.
A recent memo from the Department of Interior states that “all decisions, actions, consultations, and other undertakings” that are “related to wind and solar energy facilities” will need to run a gauntlet of reviews from the various Interior offices. It includes 68 activities now subject to additional review
A Heatmap review described the order as “drastic” and impacting projects on both public and private lands.
Translation: forget about hitting the tax credit deadline. Washington will tie the process up in knots until the clock runs out.
And this is merely the first salvo. Expect the vast majority of early-stage solar and wind projects to be slow-rolled until the deadline passes.
Now to California.
The two articles had the following headlines:
▶ California farmers identify a hot new cash crop: Solar power
▶ California irrigation district calls for halt of farmland conversion for solar
Farmers have long enjoyed the profits from leasing land to solar developers. A 2022 survey by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that about 117,000 farms have some type of solar.
The reality is that farmers make more money from leasing lands than from crowing crops, and the effort involved encompasses depositing the monthly checks. However, the use of farmlands has caused a backflash that prime farmland is being gobbled up, threatening food supplies and local communities.
I’ve written about this before. The reality is that a very small percentage of farmable land is being converted to renewable projects. The backlash is driven more by emotion than facts.
Oh yes, and it’s being fueled by anti-renewable forces.
Still, these efforts are gaining traction. Heatmap recently reported that one-fifth of U.S. counties now restrict renewables development. That’s 695 counties in all, restricting an estimated 17% of the total continental U.S. land mass.
The Imperial Irrigation District of California (IID) claims that 13,000 acres of prime Imperial Valley farmland has been converted to solar. In response, the IID approved a resolution opposing continued solar development on active farmland.
Being a mecca for both solar and farming, California may be ground zero for this continued battle. So before the renewables industry bets on state and local authorities compensating for a lack of federal support, it better figure out how to counter the growing local-level backlash.
#solar #windpower #renewables #netzero