The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – EPA – today updated its so-called Re-Powering Mapping and Screening Tool, which will now provide preliminary screening results for renewable energy potential at 66,000 contaminated lands, landfills, and mine sites across the country.
Since Re-Powering’s inception in 2008, more than 70 renewable energy projects have been installed on contaminated lands. These early projects represent just over 200 MW of installed capacity, which could power approximately 30,000 homes, and provide a foundation for future development as demonstrations of the latest technologies in both renewable energy and remediation design.
Working with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Re-Powering developed screening criteria for solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal potential at various levels of development. The sites are tracked by EPA and selected state agencies
Using EPA databases of potentially and formerly contaminated lands, state agency data from California, Hawaii, Oregon, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, West Virginia, and Virginia, the mapping tool expanded the universe of sites from 24,000 to more than 66,000 sites.
There remains significant potential for renewable energy generation on contaminated lands nationwide. For solar energy alone, EPA identified more than 10,000 contaminated sites with the potential to install a 300-kilowatt solar array or greater. Based on mapped acreage, these sites could cumulatively host solar energy systems that capture greater than 30 times more solar energy than all renewable energy systems operating in the United States today.
“By identifying the renewable energy potential of contaminated sites across the country, these screening results are a good step toward meeting national renewable energy goals in order to address climate change, while also cleaning up and revitalizing contaminated lands in our communities,” said Mathy Stanislaus, of the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.
