Colorado Renewable Energy

The U.S. Department of the Interior and the BLM are working with local communities, state regulators, industry, and other federal agencies in building a clean energy future by providing sites for environmentally sound development of renewable energy on public lands. 

For more information on our national renewable energy initiatives, vist: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/energy/renewable_energy.html

BiomassSolarWindGeothermalTransmissionHydro

Biomass  — Solar  — Wind  — Geothermal  — Transmission  — Hydro

biomass  Biomass

BLM Colorado supports the development of renewable energy in the state, including biomass.  Biomass is considered any organic material such as non-commercial by-products of forest management projects.  BLM Colorado produces thousands of tons of biomass annually through various forestry, fuel hazard reduction, and range improvement projects.  Examples include timber sales and mechanical treatments of small diameter trees to reduce fuels.  However, much of the biomass produced is left on-site in the form of chips or piles of woody material that have been little-used due to limited demand in Colorado.  With the development of new pellet plants in Northwest Colorado, more facilities plan on using biomass for heating and blending wood with coal for power generation. 

  Solar

Solar radiation availability in the Southwest is some of the best in the world, and the BLM manages 30 million acres of public lands with solar potential. Currently, no commercial-scale solar energy facilities operate on BLM Colorado public lands. However, the BLM has received more than 220 applications for solar energy projects making up more than 2.3 million acres of land, mostly in California, Nevada, and Arizona.  About 5 percent of those applications are from New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. 

The BLM is presently working with the Department of Energy (DOE) on the preparation of a joint Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for solar energy development on public lands. The PEIS will assess environmental impacts associated with the development and implementation of agency-specific programs that would establish environmental policies and mitigation strategies for solar projects, and amend relevant agency land use plans in six western states: Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah.

The PEIS will also designate tracts of U.S. public lands in the West as prime zones for utility-scale solar energy development, fund environmental studies, open new solar energy permitting offices and speed reviews of industry proposals. Under this initiative, 24 tracts of Bureau of Land Management-administered land located in six western states, known as Solar Energy Areas, would be fully evaluated for their environmental and resource suitability for large-scale solar energy production.  The objective is to provide landscape-scale planning and zoning for solar projects on BLM lands in the West, allowing a more efficient process of solar development. 

In Colorado, four Solar Energy Study Areas  were identified. These areas were chosen based on the criteria that they be a minimum size of 2,000 acres, be near existing roads and existing or designated transmission line routes, and have a slope of less than 5 percent.

The Draft PEIS is currently available for public review and comment through March 2011. Additional details about the PEIS can be found on the solar energy development PEIS web page .

For more information about solar energy development on public lands please visit the solar energy national web page or see the Questions and Answers document.

Wind  Wind  

Wind power is used for practical purposes such as generating electricity, charging batteries, or pumping water. Wind turbines capture the kinetic energy in the wind and convert it into electrical energy. Utility-scale turbines are mounted on tall towers, usually 200 feet or more above the earth's surface where the wind is stronger and less erratic. In utility-scale power applications, multiple turbines are connected to the utility grid to provide electricity when the wind blows.

Although numerous wind energy resources exist in Colorado, no commercial wind facility has been constructed on public lands in the state.  Much of the commercial wind-harnessing activity on BLM public lands takes place in California. 

The BLM completed a Programmatic Wind Energy Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) in 2005, amending 52 land use plans in nine western states that identified potential development of more than 3,200 megawatts of wind energy on BLM public lands in the next 20 years – enough to provide electricity for nearly 1 million homes each year.  For details about the PEIS, please visit the wind energy development Programmatic EIS Information Center .

For more information about wind energy development on public lands please visit the wind energy national web page .

Geothermal  Geothermal

In November 2010, BLM Colorado leased an 800-acre geothermal parcel in Chaffee County to 3E Geothermal, LLC in Colorado Springs during its quarterly oil, gas and geothermal lease sale, The lease sale earned $29,600 in total proceeds, with 49 percent to go to the State of Colorado. A lease is the first step for a company or individual before eventually applying to develop and produce geothermal resources. Additional planning, environmental analysis and public input must occur before drilling can begin.

The Gunnison Field Office received two nominations for geothermal parcels in the Gunnison Basin. The field office is working on an environmental assessment to address if geothermal leasing is appropriate and under what conditions. The first block includes 4,586 acres of BLM land and 400 acres of private land with subsurface federal minerals. The second block includes about 3,765 acres of U.S. Forest Service land.
BLM Colorado and the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (DNR) have developed a stipulation and a lease notice to prevent potential injury to senior water right users and protect existing geothermal features. The BLM also worked with the state to develop a Memorandum of Understanding to address areas of overlapping concerns related to both leasing and permitting. Download MOU / Press Release

The BLM and the Forest Service completed a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for leasing geothermal resources on lands they manage.  For details about the PEIS, visit the project website .  For more information about geothermal leasing on public lands please visit the National BLM web page .

Transmission  Transmission

New electric transmission lines are being proposed in Colorado to accommodate additional electricity generation capacity for the next several decades, including new renewable generation, improved reliability to reduce congestion on the grid.

Right-of-way electric transmission applications within the state include:

- Energy Gateway South, a PacifiCorp (dba Rocky Mountain Power) project, is a 350-400 mile 500 kV AC transmission project from Medicine Bow, Wyoming to Clover, Utah. The BLM is the lead agency on this multi-agency project. Public scoping meetings are scheduled early 2011in Colorado. When completed, this project will transmit up to 3,000 megawatts of electricity.

- TransWest Express, a TransWest Express, LLC project, is a 725-mile 600kV DC transmission project from south central Wyoming to southeast Las Vegas. The BLM is the lead agency on this multi-agency project. Public scoping meetings are scheduled for early 2011 in Colorado. The Draft EIS is estimated to be published summer 2012.

Hydro  Hydro Energy

A total of 251 potential BLM sites were identified and assessed for hydropower potential in Colorado.  These sites are predicted to have capacities ranging from 0.5 kilowatts to 125 megawatts, with most sites having capacities less than 5 megawatts. New hydropower facilities may directly or indirectly affect BLM administered lands, either through land exchanges, rights-of-way actions, or alterations in stream flow and riparian habitat. Even though hydropower provides a clean source of energy, there are potential environmental impacts.  Hydropower projects have the potential to alter stream temperature, flow, and aquatic and riparian habitats.  Project proponents that want to develop such facilities that may affect BLM administered lands must complete the appropriate National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis to address cumulative effects.

Hydropower is created by running water from a reservoir through a hydraulic turbine that spins and drives a generator shaft to create electricity. The distance between the water’s sources to its outflow (called the “head”) is a major factor when determining a site’s potential for hydroelectric generation. The greater the elevation change, the greater the potential for power generation. Hydropower facilities are useful for power regulation purposes (keeping supply and demand in balance), and restoring a grid after a blackout. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, “large hydropower” refers to facilities that have an energy generation capacity of more than 30 megawatts. Unlike small scale hydro, large facilities are typically more capital-intensive and require the construction of some, if not all, of the following: dams, impoundments, powerhouses, and transmission lines.