Prioritizing Rural Ranching Operations in BLM Solar Arrays
Securing America’s Energy Independence through Solar Energy while Keeping America’s Ranching Industry Intact
Through the new Western Solar Plan (official name: Final Utility-Scale Solar Energy Development Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement and Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendments), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) designated over 31 million acres of federal land across 11 states as priority zones for future solar development. About 30 million acres of this land will overlap with current livestock grazing allotments. Building conventional solar developments replaces traditional livestock grazing lands, decreasing economic opportunities for American ranchers. It doesn’t have to be this way. Practices like agrivoltaics are a win-win-win for America’s energy industry, American ranchers, and our rural American economies. To accomplish this, BLM’s right-of-way application materials should require applicants to address how solar arrays will be planned, designed, and operated to support traditional ranching practices and surrounding rural economies.
Challenge and Opportunity
Due to the decreasing cost of solar energy, the United States is undergoing a surge in large-scale solar photovoltaic developments. Over the past decade, 121 GW of solar capacity was added with continued growth projected through 2050. The BLM has the potential to significantly increase federal income from solar land leases while simultaneously preserving traditional American ranching operations. The BLM simply needs to request such solutions when selecting the companies that will develop solar projects on public land. The August 2024 Western Solar Plan makes progress on identifying lands eligible for solar developments that are close to transmission lines and on degraded lands, but does not go far enough to ensure the access and viability of grazing operations within them.
Constructing large-scale solar farms generally requires clearing and grading large areas of land, which destroys vegetation, erodes topsoil, and makes land unsuitable for grazing livestock. But alternative approaches exist. Small changes in construction practices, improved wire management, and minor alterations to the solar array racking system allow for agrivoltaics where land is simultaneously used for agriculture and solar energy production. Agrivoltaics can improve forage production outcomes in dry years and reduce livestock heat related mortality. Both benefits support rural ranching families, enabling them to produce more beef and lamb for American markets. There are already market solutions that eliminate the need for grading lands and support integrating large animals in solar arrays without decreasing solar energy output.
However, BLM’s application materials do not require solar developers to plan for long-term grazing and land management practices within solar arrays that could facilitate traditional ranching operations. Solar energy projects on BLM lands are often not authorized through competitive leases, but by BLM granting a right-of-way (ROW). The ROW application materials address “likely environmental effects” and “probable effects on” various plants and wildlife but do not address how to keep current grazing or ranching businesses on the same land. The lack of long term agriculture considerations in ROW application materials negatively impacts rural ranching communities. BLM can lead the way in ensuring U.S. solar array design and management plans integrate traditional ranching and grazing operations.
Plan of Action
The following recommendations are listed in order of priority from easiest to more challenging.
Recommendation 1. Require Right of Way applicants to address how they will maintain current ranching and grazing activities.
At a minimum, BLM should update its ROW application materials to add questions about how proposed projects will 1) preserve current ranching and grazing leases, and 2) economically affect nearby communities. BLM should prefer solar projects that maintain current land uses and deliver substantial economic benefits to local ranching families or conservation land trusts.
Recommendation 2. Create a separate Right of Way application for solar projects to better address their particular impacts.
BLM’s ROW application does not specifically address the impacts of solar arrays. Currently, ROWs are used for many different purposes like transportation, utility systems, telecommunications and other facilities. Given that utility-scale solar arrays occupy thousands of acres—significantly more than the small footprint of other ROW uses—BLM should pay special attention to the stewardship of public lands used for solar developments. Creating a dedicated ROW application for solar energy systems will help BLM select the best projects to provide the most value to rural Americans.
Recommendation 3. Make the selection process for solar companies to lease BLM land competitive.
BLM’s ROW application is not a competitive process. It is simply an application to use land. This leaves land lease revenue on the table that the federal government could use. By making a Request for Proposal (RFP) competitive bid process, BLM could select between solar companies based on land lease rates and a list of evaluation criteria for how the project will satisfy Recommendations 1 and 2. Using a competitive process will allow the federal government to generate more revenue and select solar projects with the most local benefits.
Recommendation 4. Integrate land stewardship into evaluation criteria for selecting solar projects.
Once the BLM begins selecting solar companies through a competitive process, it is important to select appropriate evaluation criteria. Independent research by the Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center, found that most solar development RFPs by utilities and municipalities attribute the vast majority of the selection criteria to the price of the energy and a company’s history and financial capabilities. Very rarely does the evaluation criteria of a solar development RFP specify any land stewardship or local partnerships. BLM could place 20-30% of a project’s evaluation on how the public’s land will continue to be stewarded by rural communities and legacy ranching families for decades to come. This change will encourage companies to compete on how to support rural ranching families without requiring the government to add any financial incentives.
Conclusion
BLM has the opportunity to increase the federal government’s income from solar land leases while simultaneously keeping rural economies and ranching families thriving. Revising the ROW application process or creating new processes to select solar projects that design for and practice agrivoltaics will maximize positive outcomes for rural America. BLM can keep traditional ranching communities on its lands within solar arrays and still provide the beef and lamb our country wants. By advancing agrivoltaics, BLM will continue its tradition of working hand-in-hand with rural communities while generating increased revenue from solar energy deployments.
This action-ready policy memo is part of Day One 2025 — our effort to bring forward bold policy ideas, grounded in science and evidence, that can tackle the country’s biggest challenges and bring us closer to the prosperous, equitable and safe future that we all hope for whoever takes office in 2025 and beyond.
BLM’s right-of-way application materials should require applicants to address how solar arrays will be planned, designed, and operated to support traditional ranching practices and surrounding rural economies.
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