Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed a secretarial order Friday solidifying the Trump administration’s efforts to avoid approving new wind and solar projects on federal lands.
The three-page order — which followed other moves against renewable energy last week — directs Interior Department agencies that are reviewing green energy projects to add another factor to their scales: project density.
The setup calls for multiplying the “nameplate generation capacity” of a project by its “projected capacity factor,” which is the amount power it is expected to generate over a period of time. That figure is then divided by the total project acreage to get the capacity density. The calculation could likely dissuade regulators from looking kindly on renewable power.
Considering multiple-use factors on public lands gives “rise to the question on whether the use of Federal lands for any wind and solar projects is consistent with the law,” according to Burgum’s order.
