For many of us, efforts to increase the amount of energy generated by renewables are largely out of sight, out of mind. We might know that an increasing share of our electricity is coming from wind and solar power generation, especially if you live in a place like California or Texas, but the impact can be largely invisible because of where tend to many of these facilities. be located That’s starting to change, however, as renewable projects get bigger and move closer to populated areas, causing all kinds of new problems for energy developers. In today’s RBN blog, we look at the unique challenges facing renewable energy projects, the slowing pace of project development, and some changes that advocates believe could speed up the permitting process.
As we explained in Part 1 in this series, permitting for infrastructure projects is a known problem with many contributing factors, but no easy solutions. There are clear benefits to having stakeholders and stakeholders involved in major proposals to build or expand energy infrastructure, and credible regulations and appropriate safeguards are essential. Still, the reality is that the permitting process for some major projects can drag on for years, such as the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), the poster child for today’s permitting challenges, and prevent others from turn into reality Parts of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), the legislation that raises the US debt ceiling, are intended to speed up the final approvals needed for MVP. (The FRA was passed by the House on Wednesday and is coming up for a vote in the Senate. Learn more about some of the other provisions of the FRA below.)
In Part 2 we looked at the TransWest Express transmission project, which will bring 3,000 megawatts (MW) of Wyoming wind-generated electricity, roughly equivalent to three-quarters of the electricity used in Los Angeles every day, to utilities in the most densely populated regions of the desert. southwest The project itself is a simple concept, but it wasn’t until April 10, 2023, 18 years after it was first proposed, that TransWest received its final federal approval. We looked at the project’s long road to approval, the difficulties in building new transport lines and the long-term repercussions of these delays.
