16 Sep 2021
The Biden administration plans to make federal lands cheaper to access for solar and wind power developers after the clean power industry argued in a lobbying push this year that lease rates and fees are too high to draw investment and could torpedo the president's climate change agenda.
Washington's decision to review the federal land policy for renewable power projects is part of a broader effort by the government of President Joe Biden to fight global warming by boosting clean energy development and discouraging drilling and coal mining.
"We recognize the world has changed since the last time we looked at this and updates need to be made," Janea Scott, senior counselor to the U.S. Interior Department's assistant secretary for land and minerals, told Reuters.
She said the administration is studying several reforms to make federal lands easier for solar and wind companies to develop, but did not give specifics.
The push for easier access to vast federal lands also underscores the renewable energy industry's voracious need for new acreage: Biden has a goal to decarbonize the power sector by 2035, a target that would require an area bigger than the Netherlands for the solar industry alone, according to research firm Rystad Energy.
At issue is a rental rate and fee scheme for federal solar and wind leases designed to keep rates in line with nearby agricultural land values.
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