US starts to build solar on ex-nuclear sites across the country
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The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded its first large solar projects on cleaned up nuclear sites. More tenders are underway - benefits include grid connections and federal support.
Also below, a new study shows huge savings for many solar power customers (but not all) and a fresh demand forecast from analysts shows how data centers will be critical to clean power growth.
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US starts to build solar on ex-nuclear sites across the country
The Department of Energy has begun allocating cleaned up nuclear sites to solar developers and the booming data center market will benefit.
Last month, two developers entered into exclusive lease negotiations with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to build 400 MW of solar capacity at the 890-square-mile Idaho National Laboratory (INL) site.
NorthRenew Energy Partners will build 300 MW solar plus battery storage on a 2,000 acre site while developer Spitfire will install 100 MW of solar plus storage on 500 acres, following a competitive request for qualifications (RFQ) process. The land has been cleaned up following historic civil and military nuclear testing and radioactive waste management.
A week later, the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration selected a partnership between Nevada utility NV Energy and Estuary Power to negotiate a realty agreement covering 2,400 acres on the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) near Las Vegas. This site was also formerly used for nuclear weapons testing.
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The projects are the first to be announced under the DOE’s Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative and the DOE has already launched RFQs for similar projects in Washington state, New Mexico and South Carolina and plans to issue additional RFQs at the INL site.
The DOE has “identified about 35,000 acres of land for potential development" in Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, South Carolina and Washington, a DOE spokesperson told Reuters Events.
"Additional lands may be offered in the future," the spokesperson said.
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Developers were encouraged to secure offtake contracts with corporate companies or power companies as part of the tender process.
Data centers and other tech companies are likely to be the "biggest purchasers of renewable energy” under the DOE initiative, Garth Klimchuk, managing partner at NorthRenew Energy Partners, said.
Surging demand from data centers is opening up new opportunities for solar and wind power and NorthRenew sees significant opportunities in the Pacific Northwest, Idaho and northern Utah.
Federal perks
The Biden administration aims to achieve 100% clean power supply to federal agencies by 2030 and decarbonise the entire power sector by 2035.
Federal agencies are required to offer developers leases, grants or permits to build clean power projects and the DOE is leading by example.
The cleaned up nuclear sites allocated to developers last month will qualify for bonus tax credits offered through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Solar, wind and storage projects receive a 30% tax credit and an additional 10% bonus if they are deployed in energy communities impacted by the closure of assets and a further 10% bonus if located in low income areas.
One key advantage in developing projects under the initiative is that many of the sites have been analysed in depth "which can be a huge asset to developers as they work through the regulatory process," a DOE spokesperson said.
The sites are also near existing transmission lines and other infrastructure, avoiding lengthy delays to grid connections that are plaguing many solar and wind developers.
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The request for proposals for the INL site was "very competitive" and sector experience as well as “local experience with federal, state and local permitting agencies” helped NorthRenew secure its lease, Klimchuk told Reuters Events.
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The DOE described NV Energy as the "most qualified developer" among the proposals submitted in Nevada.
NV Energy plans to develop at least 200 MW of solar at the NNSS site and the project is still in the early planning stage, a spokesperson for NV Energy said.
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The solicitations include a preference – but not a requirement – for projects that source American-made components.
Selection criteria also favour projects that incorporate "applicant or team members from regional institutions of higher education," as well as partnerships with local small and disadvantaged businesses and organisations owned by minorities, women, veterans or Tribal nations, the DOE said.
Clean and green
While the DOE's support for clean power is clear, the developers must overcome additional environmental hurdles to get their projects over the line.
Projects on federal sites must meet requirements set out under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), requiring greater environmental scrutiny. On top of environmental reviews carried out by the Bureau of Land Management, developers must complete an assessment of social and economic effects.
As of June, federal authorities were reviewing 17 clean power projects under the NEPA process, for a total capacity of 13.3 GW. Some 12 of these were solar projects, of which seven are located in Nevada.
Average NEPA approval times for solar projects is 2.2 years compared with 2.6 years for wind projects, according to the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University. Developers will need to be sure of their project scope and technology to avoid time-sapping clarifications.
DOE involvement should help minimise delays as the department looks to roll out similar projects across other sites.
In the latest suite of RFQ's, bidding is underway to build projects in Hanford in Washington; the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico; and Savannah River in South Carolina.
DOE will “continue to engage and partner with industry, Tribal nations, communities, stakeholders, regulators, and others to implement a process for further development of clean energy projects on DOE land,” it said.
Reporting by Neil Ford
Editing by Robin Sayles
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