News From Solar Energy Zones

Solar Energy Zones makes finding public solar claims a matter of a simple search.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) grants individuals and companies the solar rights on public land. Solar Energy Zones is a source to see where these solar claims are and have been.

New claims are being filed, auctioned, or resold through private sales. While claims change hands, become active or closed, or have new actions filed, we are updating our records to make this information available to everyone.

Understanding Maps

by Lizette Twain on July 29, 2015 in Solar Energy Zones

The time has come for a over of our mapping services to clear the way for further development of handy tools for our users. As such, this month we have rolled out a new map format to better allow our users to quickly peruse solar leases by disposition. In order to keep the maps as clutter free as possibly, we…

Understanding Solar Lease Ownership

by Lizette Twain on July 12, 2015 in Bureau of Land Management, Solar Energy Zones

We receive lots of emails from people who find their name or a relative’s name on our site and want to know if this means they have some right to the land listed under that name. The short answer is, “if you have to ask, then probably not” but the complete answer deserves the time and attention that is best…

Understanding BLM Administrative Areas

by Lizette Twain on April 9, 2015 in Bureau of Land Management, Solar Energy Zones

We have added a new way to browse and explore leases: by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Administrative Area. To give context to this new feature, we wrote this handy explanation. Summary Nearly a quarter of a billion acres – about one-eighth of the landmass of the USA – is administered by the BLM. These public lands & resources contributed…

Understanding Townships

by Lizette Twain on February 11, 2015 in Bureau of Land Management, History, Solar Energy Zones

This entry focuses on a part of our earlier discussion, Understanding Location Data. For greater context on what we will be addressing, please read that post first. One of the more confusing aspects of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is the concept of “townships.” A “township” can refer to two different things. Both are part of the PLSS measurement system but have…

Understanding Location Data

by Lizette Twain on January 4, 2015 in Bureau of Land Management

Claims handled by the Bureau of Land Management are not mapped by latitude and longitude, as many maps now use. Instead, many of these claims harken back to an older form of surveying called the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), a measurement system that may seem confusing to the uninitiated, but was a great step forward in the time that it…

Welcome!

by Lizette Twain on October 19, 2014 in Solar Energy Zones

We are excited to have launched the Solar Energy Zones! There is a lot of solar energy collection that occurs across the US. While much of this is occurring on public lands, few people are able to discover the “who,” “what,” and “where” of public solar claims. Though this is a matter of public record, we aim to make it a matter of a…