Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Buchanan, Heather.
This report examines the commercial viability of the Afton solar energy zone (SEZ) in southern New Mexico based on market conditions in 2022. The Bureau of Land Management may designate a SEZ on federal land to expedite environmental review and permitting for solar energy projects. The purpose of this analysis is to understand whether current market conditions support solar development in the SEZ.
A growing number of studies suggest that fundamental changes in the nation’s power sector have major implications for transmission planning (FERC 2022). The changing landscape suggests, among other things, the need for a concerted reexamination of long-distance interregional transmission solutions. Large, long-distance interregional transmission projects have faced institutional obstacles in the past, however (Homer et al. forthcoming). The purpose of this study is to design and test an approach to interregional transmission that can respond both to the evolving needs of the U.S. power system and to the regulatory questions that states and other authorities must consider when approving new investments in transmission.
The intent of this document is to provide guidance to states for developing geothermal regulations that would be inclusive of all geothermal technologies (e.g., conventional and non-conventional power production and direct-use applications) with applicability in all states. As part of this project, the NREL project team reviewed and catalogued existing state and federal geothermal regulations, compiled best practices from geothermal and other extractive industries, and established a Geothermal Regulatory Stakeholder Working Group (SWG) to advise and review the geothermal regulatory guidance. The SWG met approximately monthly over the course of one year to review and discuss specific topics as relevant to this geothermal regulatory guidance. This report is broken into five main sections, which were identified in coordination with the SWG as the main topics for inclusion. Within these sections, a list of considerations within each category were identified and, in some cases, relevant examples from existing state and federal geothermal regulations are included to further illustrate the proposed considerations. This report includes the following topics: geothermal resource definition; leasing process; exploration approval process; drilling/wellfield development approval process; and underground injection control process.