The Department of the Interior appears to be considering approving some solar power projects, in what would be a major reversal of the Trump administration’s strong stance against renewable energy and efforts to block the construction of solar plants.
The solar industry could soon see some relief as the Trump administration is taking a renewed look at approving some solar projects that had been sidelined in the permitting process as part of an effort to bolster the fossil fuel industry.
It is also getting an unexpected boost from some influencers in the orbit of the White House.
Earlier this week, E&E News reported that the DOI is reviewing 20 commercial-scale solar projects that have been stalled in the permitting process. The review includes a package of six utility-scale projects, such as the Esmeralda Energy Center in Nevada.
The Esmeralda Energy Center is one of seven individual solar projects that make up Esmeralda 7 solar development, which would be built on nearly 118,000 acres of federal land in Tonopah, Nevada. Last year, reports suggested that the department had canceled the massive solar project, but DOI said the project’s proponents and the Bureau of Land Management had agreed to modify their approach.
A spokesperson for the DOI told the Washington Examiner that it is reviewing permitting for large-scale onshore solar and wind projects.
“This comprehensive review process ensures that projects—whether on federal, state, or private lands—receive appropriate oversight whenever federal resources, permits, or consultations are involved,” the spokesperson said.
“By applying consistent standards, we are strengthening accountability, preventing misuse of taxpayer-funded subsidies, and upholding our commitment to restoring balance in energy development,” they added.
President Donald Trump and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum have criticized renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, calling them unreliable. The administration has made it more challenging for renewable energy projects to navigate the permitting process and has instead pushed to develop fossil fuel energy sources, such as coal, that they prize for their reliability.
As part of the effort to slow renewable energy, Burgum has taken the approval process into his own hands. The DOI announced last July that all agency-related decisions and actions with regards to wind and solar needed Burgum’s personal signature to receive necessary permits.
Sean Gallagher, senior vice president of Policy at the Solar Energy Industries Association, told the Washington Examiner that the majority of domestic solar companies are “still in the dark about whether or how their projects and permits will be considered by the Department of the Interior.”
“Developers and investors need confidence that their projects will be able to move through the permitting process in good faith and without unfair treatment based on energy source. The reality is that Interior could provide that clarity today by revoking their July memo,” Gallagher said.
However, the solar industry is gaining some unexpected high-profile conservative supporters, such as Katie Miller and Kellyanne Conway.
Miller, who is married to White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, has publicly voiced support for solar energy.
Earlier this month, she tweeted, “Solar energy is the energy of the future. Giant fusion reactor up there in the sky – we must rapidly expand solar to compete with China.”
Then, Miller shared a post with a graph from the Energy Information Administration, showing that solar is the dominant energy source of new capacity in the U.S. and is expected to surpass coal.
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Conway, who managed Trump’s first presidential campaign, has a consulting firm that released a poll this month that showed that more than 8-in-10 voters in Republican-leaning states support solar energy.
According to a confidential strategy memo obtained by E&E News, Miller, along with Conway, said that their “advocacy is aligned with a campaign by members of the nation’s largest renewable energy lobby group to MAGA-fy solar power.”
