Smart Siting for Renewable Energy Projects

By Collin Ackerman of Encore Redevelopment, December 2009

BY 2030, U.S. electricity demand is expected to increase by 30%, leaving a substantial gap between our current supply and expected demand.  Renewable energy sources will undeniably play a crucial role in filling that gap, while ensuring a healthy and sustainable future for America.¹   As communities and local governments are realizing the benefits of utilizing renewable energy, new ideas and incentives have developed that are driving the industry forward at rapid pace.

The EPA, along with developers such as Encore Redevelopment, have begun to combine the unique challenges of cleaning contaminated land, with the challenge of supplying America’s growing energy demand with clean renewable sources of energy. Siting renewable energy generation facilities on formerly contaminated land produces a three-fold benefit, providing income to fund clean-up activities while supplying America with clean, carbon-free energy and creating jobs.

The EPA estimates that over 480,000 potentially contaminated sites exist across the U.S., 450,000 being legally classified as brownfields.²  Brownfields are sites which are contaminated or potentially contaminated usually due to past industrial use. The remaining contaminated sites tracked by the EPA are classified as abandoned mine sites, Superfund sites, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) sites. EPA estimates suggest that almost 15 million acres of contaminated land exist in the country today.³   Approximately 9,600 of these sites have been determined to have potential for renewable energy development. All told, the estimated potential for utility scale solar and wind on these sites could be a staggering 915,000MW. A September 2009 report from the US EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response estimates that if all qualifying EPA tracked land with solar potential were developed, the greenhouse gas offset could be up 2,200 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2E). 4

The EPA has recently developed a new program called “RE-Powering America’s Land”. The focus of this program is to encourage the clean-up and rehabilitation of America’s contaminated land for renewable energy production. Benefits of redeveloping contaminated sites for renewables include:

• Contaminated sites are generally located in industrial zones, near population centers which have existing transmission infrastructure and load. This makes development easier and more economical;

• Developing former industrial sites takes pressure off of undeveloped and wild land, alleviating concerns over harming natural habits for some sensitive species; 5

• Siting wind and solar facilities in former industrial sites draws less aesthetic opposition;

• Proceeds from the sale of energy can be used to fund clean-up efforts;

• In some situations, renewable energy may be the only economically feasible activity to return the site to productive re-use;

• Redeveloping sites raises property values, increases community health indices, and creates jobs.
  

Some developers and non-profit organizations, including the Wilderness Society, suggest an increased incentive for developers who choose to site their renewable energy projects on contaminated land in order to promote the compounded benefits listed above. In a recent white paper released by the Wilderness Society, a “triple credit multiplier” is suggested for renewable energy credits (RECs) received by energy producers using contaminated land. For more information on the important work being done by the Wilderness Society to promote the use of contaminated land for renewable energy generation, please visit http://wilderness.org/ and http://wilderness.org/files/Brownfields-backgrounder.pdf.

¹ EPA. “REpowering Fact Sheet” http://www.epa.gov/oswercpa/docs/repower_contaminated_land_factsheet.pdf

²  EPA. “About Brownfields” http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/about.htm

³ EPA. “Why Develop Renewable Energy on Contaminated Land and Mining Sites” http://www.epa.gov/renewableenergyland/why_develop.htm

4 EPA OSWER. “Opportunities to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Materials and Land Management Practices” September 2009

5 Wilderness Society. “Revitalizing Contaminated Lands with Renewable Energy”