NextEra Energy chosen for solar project at US DOE site

The US Department of Energy (DOE) this week selected NextEra Energy Resources Development LLC to start realty negotiations for a solar and energy storage project at DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a transuranic waste repository in New Mexico.

The company will negotiate the deployment of at least 150 MW of carbon-free electricity to the grid with a 100-MW storage system.

The announcement is part of the Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative, where DOE land is being made available for potential green energy development through leases. Since the launch of the initiative last year, DOE has issued six requests for qualifications to lease land at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, Hanford Site in Washington, WIPP, Nevada National Security Site in Nevada and Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho. Developers have now been selected for all Cleanup to Clean Energy sites.

“President Biden directed the federal government to use its scale and procurement power, as the nation’s largest energy consumer and land manager, to support the growth of America’s clean energy industry and clean energy jobs and do so in ways that are good for our taxpayers and our communities,” remarked Andrew Mayock, federal chief sustainability officer in the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

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