February 28, 2003—The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management and the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory have announced the availability of a new report that evaluates renewable energy resources on public lands.
The report, titled “Assessing the Potential for Renewable Energy on Public Lands,” will help federal land managers make decisions on prioritizing land-use activities that will increase development of renewable energy resources on public lands in the West (except Alaska). The report studied resources on BLM, Tribal and Forest Service lands.
The assessment was undertaken in response to a task developed from the President’s National Energy Policy. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management and the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory formed a partnership in June 2001 to conduct an assessment of access to renewable energy resources on BLM-managed federal lands in the western United States.
The sources of renewable energy addressed in the report include wind, solar (photovoltaic and concentrating), biomass and geothermal energy. Federal land managers will use the report’s findings in land-use planning activities to prioritize land-use plans and to increase the development and use of renewable energy resources on public lands.
The study shows that there are some areas of overlap between renewable and nonrenewable energy resources. For example, southwest and south-central Wyoming and a portion of the Powder River Basin in Montana have high potential for wind energy development. Overlaps for concentrating solar power exist in northwest New Mexico and southwest Wyoming. Biomass energy potential exists in west-central Montana on the Rocky Mountain front.
The BLM and NREL used Geographic Information System data to assess renewable energy resources on BLM lands in the West. The assessment identifies the BLM’s planning units with the highest potential for developing renewable resources, which include concentrating solar power, photovoltaic solar, geothermal, wind and biomass resources and technologies.
The assessment resulted in the following findings:
Sixty-three BLM planning units in 11 western states have high potential for power production from one or more renewable energy sources.
Twenty BLM planning units in seven western states have high potential for power production from three or more renewable energy sources.
Additionally, the BLM/NREL team identified high-potential geothermal energy sites during visits to BLM state offices. This assessment, which focused on the BLM’s geothermal resources in seven western states, found that 35 sites have high potential for near-term development.
Copies of the report can be obtained by writing to the Bureau of Land Management; Denver Federal Center, P.O. Box 25047; Denver, CO 80225-0047.
