RE-Powering America's Land

Siting Renewable Energy on
Potentially Contaminated Land and Mine Sites

EPA is encouraging renewable energy development on current and formerly contaminated land and mine sites when it is aligned with the community’s vision for the site. This initiative identifies the renewable energy potential of these sites and provides other useful resources for communities, developers, industry, state and local governments or anyone interested in reusing these sites for renewable energy development.

"Because of federal investments, renewable energy use has nearly doubled, and thousands of Americans have jobs because of it."
- President Barack Obama
State of the Union address, 2012

RE-Powering Resources:

• Listen to EPA staff interview the OSWER Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanislaus to discuss renewable energy on contaminated lands in this podcast. This discussion introduces the benefits of RE-Powering and EPA’s new Wind and Solar Decision Trees.
  • Listen to Renewable Energy on Contaminated Lands podcast (6:50 minutes, 6.4MB, MP3) (Download Windows Media Player)
  • Read the Renewable Energy on Contaminated Lands transcript (PDF) (3 pp, 33KB)
• Handbook on Siting Renewable Energy Projects While Addressing Environmental Issues (PDF) (41 pp, 2MB)
  EPA developed a handbook to increase the awareness of the opportunities for siting renewable energy projects while addressing environmental site issues during all phases of cleanup. More information about this handbook is available on the Reports and Fact Sheets web page.
• Solar Decision Tree (PDF) (18 pp, 815K) and Wind Decision Tree (PDF) (18 pp, 864K)
  EPA Headquarters, EPA’s Region 9 Office, and the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) have developed decision trees to screen potentially contaminated and underutilized sites for solar and wind potential. More information about the tool is available on the Reports and Fact Sheets web page.
• Renewable Energy Feasibility Studies on Contaminated Properties
  On November 4th, EPA announced that it will be working with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to evaluate the feasibility of developing renewable energy production on 26 Superfund, brownfields, and former landfill or mining sites. The press release is availabe online.
• Reports and Fact Sheets
  Includes materials that describe the RE-Powering initiative's purpose and its analyses. Also includes fact sheets that describe the sites where EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) are analyzing the potential for wind, solar, or small hydro development on potentially contaminated land.
• Mapping Tools
  • Interactive Mapping Tool for Renewable Energy
    Google Earth mapping tool that shows EPA and state tracked site specific information with renewable energy development potential.
  • State and National Maps
    National and individual state maps showing renewable energy development potential on EPA and state tracked sites.
• Data Information
  Provides the data and screening criteria used to determine the renewable energy potential for the mapping projects.
• Incentives
  Provides federal and state specific renewable energy and contaminated lands redevelopment incentives.
• Success Stories
  Highlights projects with successful renewable energy development projects on contaminated land and mine sites.
• Frequently Asked Questions
  Answers to frequently asked questions about the RE-Powering initiative.
• Events
  Renewable energy meetings and conferences.
  • Webinar Series
    The next RE-Powering webinar will be May 22^nd, 2012 at 2 pm EST. This webinar will provide an overview of tools available to local governments to help them get renewable energy projects built on contaminated land in their community.

For further information regarding RE-Powering America's Land: Renewable Energy on Potentially Contaminated Land and Mine Sites, please contact: cleanenergy@epa.gov