By Kathryn Krawczyk, Canary Media
For the past 15 years, onshore wind projects have followed the same process to get the Department of Defense’s permission to build. Now, that familiar route has been closed off, effectively jeopardizing all new wind projects on private land — more than 250 nationwide — and threatening to sideline 30 GW of potential generation capacity, according to the American Clean Power Association.
All wind projects in the U.S. must first head through the Military Aviation and Installation Assurance Siting Clearinghouse, where, in the DOD’s own words, they’re supposed to undergo a “timely, transparent, and repeatable process to evaluate potential impacts” to national security and military operations. It’s a routine that has spanned presidencies, including the first Trump administration, and that typically revolves around making sure turbines don’t interfere with radars or federal airspace.
If an issue arises, developers and the DOD usually come to a mitigation agreement that resolves both parties’ concerns. These deals are often settled in a matter of days, the Financial Times reports. But the DOD hasn’t signed off on a mitigation agreement since last August, the American Clean Power Association says, leaving at least 60 wind projects that were already in formal negotiations awaiting sign-off from the DOD.
