Contact Information
Permitting Council Press Office (media@permitting.gov)

WASHINGTON (October 15, 2024) – The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) is pleased to announce the latest project to receive permitting assistance through the FAST-41 program, the Perkins Renewable Energy project. If permitted this $2.5 billion solar project will play a significant role in achieving California’s renewable energy goals.

“We’re excited to have Perkins Renewable Energy join the FAST-41 infrastructure portfolio,” said Eric Beightel, Permitting Council Executive Director. “Solar projects play a substantial role in our efforts to help advance the clean energy future. My team looks forward to bringing the predictability, transparency and accountability of the FAST-41 program to this project, as we work with the project sponsor to ensure an effective and efficient process.” 

Located east of El Centro, California on both public and private lands, the Perkins Renewable Energy project is a solar photovoltaic facility and battery energy storage system that, if permitted, will produce up to 1,150 megawatts of clean renewable energy. Project sponsors plan for this project to create a new point of interconnection for renewable energy in the Imperial Valley area, in addition to playing a key role in energy generation for the state. 

Learn more about the Perkins Renewable Energy project at permitting.gov.

About the Permitting Council and FAST-41 

Established in 2015 by Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41) and made permanent in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Permitting Council is a unique federal agency charged with improving the transparency and predictability of the federal environmental review and authorization process for certain critical infrastructure projects. The Permitting Council is comprised of the Permitting Council Executive Director, who serves as the Council Chair; 13 federal agency Council members (including deputy secretary-level designees of the Secretaries of Agriculture, Army, Commerce, Interior, Energy, Transportation, Defense, Homeland Security, and Housing and Urban Development, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Chairs of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation); and the Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The Permitting Council coordinates federal environmental reviews and authorizations for projects that seek and qualify for FAST-41 coverage. FAST-41 covered projects are entitled to comprehensive permitting timetables and transparent, collaborative management of those timetables on the Federal Permitting Dashboard. FAST-41 covered projects may be in the renewable or conventional energy production, electricity transmission, energy storage, surface transportation, aviation, ports and waterways, water resource, broadband, pipelines, manufacturing, mining, carbon capture, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and machine learning, high-performance computing and advanced computer hardware and software, quantum information science and technology, data storage and data management, and cybersecurity sectors. The Permitting Council also serves as a federal center for permitting excellence, supporting federal efforts to improve infrastructure permitting including and beyond FAST-41 covered projects to the extent authorized by law, including activities that promote or provide for the efficient, timely, and predictable completion of environmental reviews and authorizations for federally authorized infrastructure projects.