Aligning thousands of local governments toward development of renewables remains one of the harder nuts to crack in the clean energy transition. 

Advanced Energy United this summer offered core policy considerations to speed up the process and held a webinar Aug. 27 to drill down on how state-level efforts to streamline permitting have been progressing. 

“Local opposition recently was cited in a survey of developers as one key barrier to getting projects done,” said Trish Demeter, an AEU managing director and the moderator of the discussion. “By another estimate, more than 15% of counties in the U.S. have some sort of ban or restrictive ordinance on new renewable energy projects.” 

Discussion centered on Massachusetts and Michigan, which have both declared 100% net-zero and clean energy goals. Both also delegate extensive power over clean energy projects to hundreds of local governments that are not uniformly enthusiastic about hosting sprawling new generation facilities. 

The goal is to streamline the control these local governments can exert over the approval process around a single set of principles rather than an ever-changing assortment of hundreds of rules. 

Jim Purekal, an AEU policy director, summarized the principles the trade group laid out in July as critical to large-scale development: 

• • uniform siting criteria and permitting conditions, or reasonable ranges of variation. 

• • predictable and consistent permitting environments with clearly defined steps. 

• • the absence of explicit, or de facto, moratoria or bans. 

“Now, we at United are not equipped or oriented to engage with every local agency that’s out there, or to engage on every project-by-project basis,” Purekal said. “So, these principles are really focused on the state policy advocacy, and that’s where we have a more established presence with respect to access to decision makers and also legislators and governor’s offices in about 20 states.” 

Representatives of developers working in Massachusetts and Michigan described local governance in both states that was detrimental to their work. 

Jessica Robertson of New Leaf Energy said county and regional governments do not have siting authority in Massachusetts, so 351 cities and towns rely on their individual zoning codes and standards to review projects smaller than 100 MW. 

Nearly everything so far in the Bay State has been smaller than 100 MW, except for energy storage, and grid-scale storage has its own set of hurdles. 

“Municipalities at the moment have a pretty wide ability to say ‘no’ and not give projects a permit at all,” Robertson said. “And there are different types of ways you can appeal or challenge, depending on exactly what the situation is, but those all add years to the process. 

“The same thing happens with abutter appeals. There’s a very broad authority for abutters to appeal projects in Massachusetts.” 

Chris Kunkle of Apex Clean Energy painted an equally negative picture in Michigan’s 1,240 townships. 

As Apex developed the 383-MW Isabella Wind 1 and 2, the largest clean energy project in the state, it had to contend with seven townships, seven sets of regulations that could be changed mid-process and seven sets of leaders who in some cases faced recall petitions for not opposing the project. 

“It created an environment that is simply just not conducive to the scale and pace of renewable energy development that the state of Michigan needs, from our perspective,” Kunkle said. 

Both states are governed by a Democratic executive-legislative trifecta, and both introduced streamlining measures to limit local obstruction to renewables. Both measures preserve some aspects of local control, but both created the backstop option of state review for larger projects. 

Michigan’s package was signed into law Nov. 28. (See 100% Clean Energy, Renewable Siting Bills Heading to Michigan Governor.) 

Massachusetts’ permitting reform proposal was left hanging when the legislature adjourned Aug. 1. (See Mass. Lawmakers Fail to Pass Permitting, Gas Utility Reform.) 

Robertson is optimistic the measure will yet become law — there is general agreement on the principles, she said, it just could not get through the last-minute rush in which a lot of legislative decisions are made. 

Given the breadth and intensity of NIMBY sentiment that surrounds vast solar arrays on former farm fields and wind turbines towering over the countryside, or shipping containers full of batteries that have been known to spew toxic smoke, building a consensus on permitting reform can be a tall order. 

It’s essentially a group of lawmakers in a distant capitol asking a community to host a tiny part of the solution to problems that affect the state, nation and planet, and stripping them of their ability to say “no.”  

It does not play well with lawmakers’ constituents there. 

“That’s a tension that had not been resolved previous to this,” Robertson said. 

“There was some conflict along the way, there’s no other way to put it. There’s differing viewpoints,” Kunkle said. “The local government organizations didn’t support this bill. They wanted to preserve their ability to deny projects around the state.” 

So how does such a proposal gain enough support to become law? 

Gaining Democratic control of the governor’s office and both houses of the legislature was key in Michigan, Kunkle said. But beyond that, he said, there was a lot of education of stakeholders about the local benefits of clean energy such as construction jobs. There also needs to be a skilled and energetic sponsor of legislation who can build support for the proposal. 

Robertson said the community members most likely to get involved in the permitting process are those opposed to a project. So, it’s important to figure out early what would make the project a “win” for that community, then get that message out, particularly amid disinformation campaigns. 

The message needs to be tailored to the audience, she added. A pitch in Massachusetts might emphasize climate protection, for example, but neighboring New Hampshire might be more receptive to the idea of energy independence and keeping energy dollars local. 

Kunkle said all the clean energy goals set by states such as Michigan and Massachusetts need to be backed up by a regulatory structure that gives them a chance of being achieved. 

“If you still leave permitting decisions in the hands of local government, we’re going to continue to stumble as an industry and fall short of those goals,” he said. 

Purekal ran through some of the policy considerations AEU emphasizes as it presses for siting reform: 

• • Cut red tape to streamline and right-size the process. 

• • Establish clear and enforceable timelines for permit application processes. 

• • Clarify and consolidate the appeals process. 

• • Explore incentives and tax options that would soften local opposition. 

• • Consider community benefit agreements. 

• • Promote industry best practices around decommissioning. 

But there is a place for flexibility amid all this standardization, Purekal said. “That’s flexibility to tailor agreements with host communities based on the needs of the community in order to create buy-in and meet localities where they’re at by looking at their specific needs.”