Efforts to Streamline Permitting of Geothermal Projects in the United States

Levine, Aaron L.; Young, Katherine R.

Title: Efforts to Streamline Permitting of Geothermal Projects in the United States

Abstract

Geothermal permitting timelines in the United States can be a deterrent to new investment, with geothermal project development taking as long as seven to ten years. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) in part aimed to streamline aspects of the geothermal permitting process on federally managed public lands. This article summarizes the general regulatory process for developing geothermal projects in the United States and thereafter discusses efforts proposed or undertaken by the U.S. Congress, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, state governments, and project developers to increase permitting efficiency.

Authors:

Levine, Aaron L. ^[1]; Young, Katherine R. ^[1]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Publication Date:: Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2018

Research Org.:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Geothermal Technologies Office

OSTI Identifier:: 1467102

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-6A20-68387
Journal ID: ISSN 1550-7157

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Journal

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 55; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1550-7157

Publisher:: Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY; 29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY; permitting; environmental; geothermal legislation; regulation; United States

Citation Formats


                    Levine, Aaron L., and Young, Katherine R. Efforts to Streamline Permitting of Geothermal Projects in the United States.  United States: N. p., 2018. 
Web.

Copy to clipboard


                    Levine, Aaron L., & Young, Katherine R. Efforts to Streamline Permitting of Geothermal Projects in the United States.  United States.

Copy to clipboard


                    Levine, Aaron L., and Young, Katherine R. Mon .  
"Efforts to Streamline Permitting of Geothermal Projects in the United States".  United States.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1467102.

Copy to clipboard


                    
@article{osti_1467102,

  title        = {Efforts to Streamline Permitting of Geothermal Projects in the United States},

  author       = {Levine, Aaron L. and Young, Katherine R.},

  abstractNote = {Geothermal permitting timelines in the United States can be a deterrent to new investment, with geothermal project development taking as long as seven to ten years. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) in part aimed to streamline aspects of the geothermal permitting process on federally managed public lands. This article summarizes the general regulatory process for developing geothermal projects in the United States and thereafter discusses efforts proposed or undertaken by the U.S. Congress, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, state governments, and project developers to increase permitting efficiency.},

  doi          = {},

  journal      = {Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Journal},

  number       = 1,

  volume       = 55,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2018},

  month        = {Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2018}

}

Copy to clipboard

Journal Article:

Free Publicly Available Full Text

Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Publisher's Version of Record

The DOI is not currently available

Other availability

Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal

Figures / Tables:

Table 1:: Summary of NEPA-related Environmental Review Types

All figures and tables (2 total)

Save / Share:

Export Metadata

Save to My Library

Figures / Tables found in this record:

Table 1: (p. 3)

Figure 1: (p. 8)

Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.

Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections:

Crossing the Barriers: An Analysis of Permitting Barriers to Geothermal Development and Potential Improvement Scenarios

Conference Levine, Aaron L ; Young, Katherine R

Developers have identified many non-technical barriers to geothermal power development, including permitting. Activities required for permitting, such as the associated environmental reviews, can take a considerable amount of time and delay project development. This paper discusses the impacts to geothermal development timelines due to the permitting challenges, including the regulatory framework, environmental review process, and ancillary permits. We identified barriers that have the potential to prevent geothermal development or delay timelines and defined improvement scenarios that could assist in expediting geothermal development and permitting timelines and lead to the deployment of additional geothermal resources by 2030 and 2050: (1) themore »« less
Adding Impacts and Mitigation Measures to OpenEI's RAPID Toolkit

Conference Vogel, Erin

The Open Energy Information platform hosts the Regulatory and Permitting Information Desktop (RAPID) Toolkit to provide renewable energy permitting information on federal and state regulatory processes. One of the RAPID Toolkit's functions is to help streamline the geothermal permitting processes outlined in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This is particularly important in the geothermal energy sector since each development phase requires separate land analysis to acquire exploration, well field drilling, and power plant construction permits. Using the Environmental Assessment documents included in RAPID's NEPA Database, the RAPID team identified 37 resource categories that a geothermal project may impact. Examplesmore »« less
Energy transport corridors: the potential role of Federal lands in states identified by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, section 368(b).

Technical Report Krummel, J ; Hlohowskyj, I ; Kuiper, J ; ...

On August 8, 2005, the President signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) into law. In Subtitle F of EPAct, Congress set forth various provisions that would change the way certain federal agencies (Agencies) coordinate to authorize the use of land for a variety of energy-related purposes. As part of Subtitle F of EPAct, Section 368 addresses the issue of energy transportation corridors on federal land for oil, gas, and hydrogen pipelines, as well as electricity transmission and distribution facilities. Because of the critical importance of improving the nation's electrical transmission grid, Congress recognized that electricity transmission issues shouldmore »« less
https://doi.org/10.2172/1031451

Full Text Available
Streamlining the Federal geothermal leasing and permitting process: background papers, analysis and recommendations

Technical Report

The Federal leasing and permitting programs were analyzed, as well as those of the states of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington. The relevant statutory and regulatory frameworks of the land management agencies involved, as well as the options prepared by the Streamlining Task Force and the California State-Federal-Local Task Group were analyzed. The agencies studied include the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Pacific Region States, as well as the roles of DOE and DOD. (MHR)
https://doi.org/10.2172/6689996

Full Text Available
Economic Impact of Permitting Timelines on Geothermal Power in California, Nevada, and Utah

Technical Report Neupane, Ghanashyam ; Adhikari, Birendra

The United States has great geothermal power potential; however, only a small fraction of this resource has been utilized for power generation. Various barriers, including technical, financial, and regulatory permit delays, are attributed to the lower penetration of geothermal energy into the national grid. Unpredictable environmental reviews and permitting timelines are some of the non-technical barriers that can cause delays in geothermal exploration and utilization plans. This document provides an assessment of the potential economic impact of permitting costs and timelines on geothermal power in California, Nevada, and Utah. Development of geothermal resources requires multi-layered regulatory permitting by local, state,more »« less
https://doi.org/10.2172/1845410

Full Text Available

Similar Records