The Department of Energy on Tuesday said it selected NextEra Energy Resources as the final solar-energy contractor for the WIPP site as part of the agency’s Cleanup to Clean Energy program.
NextEra Energy Resources will now have the chance to negotiate an agreement for at least 150 megawatts of carbon pollution-free energy deployed on up to 1,800 acres of land, according to DOE’s release.
The agency made the announcement on the first day of the annual National Cleanup Workshop in Arlington, Va. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm shouted out the award in her opening keynote at the workshop.
Five other DOE nuclear cleanup sites are participating in Cleanup to Clean Energy now.
The others, whose contractors have previously been announced, are the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the Hanford Site in Washington state, the Idaho National Laboratory and Nevada National Security Site.
Savannah River Site has already selected two contractors, Ameresco and Stellar, and in August issued an RFQ for parties interested in developing carbon-pollution-free energy projects of at least 200 megawatts, according to the DOE.
