The proposed updated Western Solar Plan is a roadmap for Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) governance of solar energy proposals and projects on public lands.
It bumps up the acreage from the 22 million acres it recommended in January, and this plan adds five additional states – Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming – to the six states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah – analyzed in the original plan.
It would make the public lands available for potential solar development, putting solar farms closer to transmission lines or on previously disturbed lands and avoiding protected lands, sensitive cultural resources, and important wildlife habitats.