A letter organized by the Solar Energy Industries Association and signed by 143 solar companies is heading to the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives in response to a Department of Interior (DOI) memo that has virtually cut all permitting on solar projects involving the department.
Credit: Primoris Renewable Energy
“Federal agencies are implementing this directive in a way that amounts to a nearly complete moratorium on permitting for any project in which the Department of Interior may play a role, on both federal and private land, no matter how minor,” wrote 143 solar companies in the letter. “Businesses need certainty in order to continue making investments in the United States to build out much-needed energy projects. Certainty must include a review process that does not discriminate by energy source. We urge Congress to keep fairness and certainty at the center of permitting negotiations.”
The memo issued in July is concerned with federal permitting on wind and solar projects on sites belonging to or contiguous to federal land, or sites using federal resources. The memo states that “all decisions, actions, consultations and other undertakings” regarding wind and solar energy facilities must be submitted to the Office of the Executive Secretariat and Regulatory Affairs, then reviewed by the Office of the Deputy Secretary, for a final review by the Office of the Secretary, followed by a list of 69 different permitting items under the DOI’s purview.
“For America’s solar industry, permitting reform starts with permit certainty. As 143 solar companies wrote in their letter to our congressional leaders, without action to address this unequal treatment of solar energy, the industry will continue to face significant barriers to deployment and investment at a time of skyrocketing energy demand,” said SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper. “While the solar industry values the continued bipartisan engagement on permitting reform, the SPEED Act, as passed out of committee, falls short of addressing this core problem: the ongoing permitting moratorium.”
SEIA published an analysis in November of Energy Information Administration data estimating that a pipeline of more than 500 solar and energy storage projects representing 116 GW of capacity are being stalled following the DOI’s permitting changes.
“To be clear, there is no question we need permitting reform,” Hopper said. “There is an agreement to be reached, and SEIA and our 1,200 member companies will continue our months-long effort to advocate for a deal that ensures equal treatment of all energy sources, because the current status of this blockade is unsustainable.”
