Super Competitive Renewable Energy Zones with ORB Model Results

This dataset summarizes the total megawatts (MW) of renewable energy resource potential by environmental exclusion category that were used in The Nature Conservancy's ORB study. This dataset also links users to a "scorecard" that summarizes the results from the ORB study for each Super Competitive Renewable Energy Zone (SuperCREZ).

Users can select a SuperCREZ unit using the “i” identify tool in the Data Basin mapping application. A pop-up with detailed breakdown of the resource potential by technology and by environmental exclusion category will appear. This pop-up also includes a hyperlink to a summary card for 28 of the 61 SuperCREZs that have resources selected for at least one technology to meet either the 33% or 50% RPS scenario. For 13 SuperCREZs, only one renewable energy resource was selected for a SuperCREZ to meet either 33% or 50%, but for only one environmental exclusion category. In these cases, no summary card was created.

The four environmental exclusion categories used in the study are summarized below:

Category 1 (Legally Excluded): Areas where legal restrictions preclude energy development. This category strictly follows exclusions from previous planning studies (i.e., Western Renewable Energy Zones (WREZ), Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative (RETI), Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (SPEIS)).

Category 2: Areas with administrative and legal designations by public agencies in order to protect ecological and social values. In some cases these areas already have some restrictions on energy development. This category includes all “avoid” and “Category 2” areas identified in WREZ and RETI studies, respectively.

Category 3: Lands with ecological, economic or social value, including many conservation organizations’ priority conservation areas, Prime Farmland, and lands proposed for designation as Wilderness.

Category 4: Lands with broad-scale ecological value based on regional models and studies, including contiguous high quality suitable habitat and ecologically intact lands.