RE-Powering: Want to Learn More
On this page:
- Interested in Learning More about RE-Powering? The RE-Power Training Page is a Great Place to Start.
- Want to Review a Past RE-Powering Webinar?
- Where Can You Find RE-Powering Sites? Check Out the Tracking Matrix.
- What are Some Benefits of Actual RE-Powering Sites?
- What is Community Solar?
- Interested in Sustainability? Review the Critical Infrastructure Study
Interested in Learning More about RE-Powering? The RE-Power Training Page is a Great Place to Start.
RE-Powering has been developing training to support successful renewable projects on contaminated lands, landfills and mine sites. These trainings walk through some of the more complex portions of siting renewable energy on contaminated lands. The following trainings are available.
- Land Use Considerations Training Module
- Interconnection and Electricity Sales Training Module
- Addressing Community Concerns
- Project Development – Building the Team
- Using NREL’s PV Watts® Calculator to Calculate Economic Feasibility
Want to Review a Past RE-Powering Webinar?
EPA hosts webinars to help stakeholders explore development of renewable energy resources on formerly contaminated lands. The webinars highlight EPA resources; feature presentations by renewable energy and land redevelopment experts; and share examples of successful projects, programs and policies.
Where Can You Find RE-Powering Sites? Check Out the Tracking Matrix
Using publicly available information, RE-Powering maintains a list of completed renewable energy installations on contaminated sites and landfills. The locations of these installations reflect evolving market trends generally linked to available renewable energy resource, Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), net-metering laws, and other incentives. The RE-Powering Tracking Matrix provides summary statistics of known installations and discusses emerging trends.
What are Some Benefits of Actual RE-Powering Sites?
Using publicly available information, RE-Powering maintains a list of economic and environmental benefits reported by communities and developers associated with renewable energy projects on contaminated lands. Communities across the country are creating jobs and stimulating economic growth by developing these sites. Common benefits reported include revenues from land leases and taxes, electricity cost savings associated with the reduced need to purchase power from the grid, job creation, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
What is Community Solar?
Community solar projects allow for residential and commercial utility customers to opt into a subscription plan that provides a share of either the solar panels or electricity output. These projects provide a direct benefit to utility customers by allowing them to purchase power from a solar project without having to install the system on their own property.
Community solar is similar to a community farm, where participants each have a plot of land or a share of the farm's produce. As shown in the Community Solar photo below, specific solar panels are allocated to each individual customer.
Community solar projects (sometimes called Shared Renewables) expand solar access by allowing residential and commercial utility customers that either: 1) lack the technical ability or financial resources to install solar on their premises, or 2) are located in an area where relying on solar would be impractical or inefficient, to purchase solar power for some or all of their electricity needs. For example, properties that are shaded by buildings or trees can instead purchase solar power through direct participation in local projects. A subscriber can live many miles from the solar project to which they subscribe, but will still receive credits on their monthly electric bill just as if the panels were mounted on their roof. See EPA’s website on Shared Renewables for additional information.
Why is Community Solar Important on RE-Powering Sites?
Community solar projects are typically between 1 to 5 megawatts (MW) and cover 6 to 30 acres of land. Landfills and mid-sized brownfield sites are typically a similar size, and this makes landfills and brownfields ideal locations for community solar projects.
As of October 2022, 42 community solar projects across a total of 18 states and U.S. territories have been installed on RE-Powering sites. In the past decade, community solar projects have grown significantly as a percentage of RE-Powering projects. The following graph illustrates types of solar projects over time and shows that the relative contribution of RE-Powering community solar projects have grown from zero in 2012 to 44% in 2021.
Why is this important to low- and moderate-income communities?
Many community solar projects allocate a certain percentage of subscriptions to low- and moderate-income customers, use local subcontractors to assist with installation and maintenance, and provide solar employment training for community residents.
See the National Community Solar Partnership for more information about supporting equitable community solar development in the U.S. The National Community Solar Partnership is a coalition of community solar stakeholders working to expand access to affordable community solar for every American household.
How Do I Find Sites for Community Solar?
One way to identify sites suitable for community solar is to use the RE-Powering Mapper. The RE-Powering Mapper Tutorial – Searching for Sites guides users through the process of locating acceptable sites that meet specific traits or criteria.
How Do State Programs Help Community Solar?
Some states have programs enabling community solar in the form of legislation that creates a third-party market for community solar and requires both project developers and utilities to follow certain regulations to enroll customers and develop community solar installations. In states without community solar programs, projects are typically developed and managed by the local utility.
For additional information on state-level policies and programs for community solar, including how states and territories address low- and moderate-income participation, see State Policies and Programs for Community Solar.
For example, New Jersey has implemented a Community Solar Energy Pilot Program, which applies evaluation criteria that prioritize brownfields, landfills, areas of historic fill, rooftops, and parking canopies. This program addresses environmental equity by allocating a significant portion of program capacity to low- and moderate-income communities.
Among Year 1 and 2 program awards, a total of 35 MWDirect Current (DC) and 41 MWDC respectively, were on landfill or brownfield sites. See Profiles of State Programs for more information on the New Jersey program and other RE-Powering-related programs.
Examples of Community Solar on RE-Powering Sites
Completed community solar projects that include environmental equity components:
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Oxon Run (2.65 MWDC) Brownfield Community Solar Project in Washington, DC Located on a 15-acre site that was contaminated with petroleum residues from nearby gas stations, this project provides several direct benefits to the area. Local subcontractors participated in solar construction, and approximately 750 income-qualifying households in the surrounding community each receive $500 of free electricity annually from the solar project. Extensive habitat enhancements were also made to the site, including restoration of native trees and pollinator plants.
- Coyote Ridge (1.95 MW) Landfill Community Solar Project in Fort Collins, CO This project covers 9 acres of landfill buffer and is managed by the local utility, Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association, an electric cooperative. Most of the community solar panels are allocated to income-qualified customers of the cooperative and local non-profit organizations. Due to its popularity, the project is already fully subscribed.
For more information on community benefits from RE-Powering projects, see the RE-Powering Benefits Matrix.
Interested in Sustainability? Review the Critical Infrastructure Study
Extreme weather events and natural hazards that can cause long-term power outages for critical infrastructure also create vulnerabilities for renewable energy installations. Location and building standards and best practices should be applied to protect renewable energy installations. Renewable energy in combination with a decentralized electricity grid can make communities more resilient.
To demonstrate how RE-Powering projects could be a part of a community’s energy resiliency portfolio, RE-Powering developed a methodology that can be used to evaluate the potential for RE-Powering sites to support critical infrastructure assets, including in emergency situations, and to identify specific EPA-screened sites with the best potential for supporting wastewater treatment infrastructure.
The study evaluated over 80,000 RE-Powering sites and nearly 17,000 wastewater infrastructure units. This methodology can be applied at national or local scales to other infrastructure (e.g., hospitals, schools, emergency centers, cell towers, fire stations, natural gas distribution centers, and others) if needs information can be calculated.