By Carey L. Biron, Thomsen Reuters Foundation News
The U.S. government formally began looking at putting renewable energy installations
on disturbed land – including mines, but also contaminated sites and landfills – in 2008. Since then, the RE-Powering America’s Land program has mapped over 100,000 potential sites covering more than 44 million acres.
DICKENSON COUNTY, Virginia – Looking west from Hazel Mountain, Brad Kreps can see forested hills stretching to the Tennessee border and beyond, but it is the flat, denuded area in front of him he finds exciting.
Surface coal mining ended on this site several years ago. But with a clean-up underway, it is now being prepared for a new chapter in the region’s longstanding role as a major energy producer – this time from a renewable source: the sun.
While using former mining land to generate solar energy has long been discussed, this and five related sites are among the first projects to move forward in the coalfields of the central Appalachian Mountains, as well as nationally. Continue reading here.
Virginia’s Clean Energy Legislation
Previously Posted: Interior Investing Over $260 Million to Help Create Jobs and Revitalize Land in Coal Communities, Department of the Interior News Release
DESERT RENEWABLE ENERGY CONSERVATION PLAN
The Biden Administration seeks to conserve 30% of U.S. land by 2030. The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan is one way to that goal.
See: Road to 30, Center for Western Priorities. Scroll down to learn about this plan and more Ways to Get to 30.
DOI News Release: Interior Department Advances Three Solar Projects in California, Marking Significant Progress to Develop a Clean Energy Economy
The three projects will generate roughly 1,000 megawatts (or 1 gigawatt of power) and are the first projects approved under the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) in the desert regions of seven California counties.
Additional Resources
- Original 30×30 Resolution
- See more DOI News Releases here.
- DOI Newsroom
FEATURED REAP STORY FROM NORTH CAROLINA
Salisbury water buffalo farm installs solar panels with help from Rural Energy for America Program, Salisbury Post
Caring for the buffalo and making products with their milk is hard work, and it also requires a significant amount of energy. That’s why the couple decided to install solar panels on the roof of their milking parlor and creamery last year. They were excited to find out in the spring they were awarded a $13,000 grant to help finance the project from the United States Department of Agriculture through its Rural Energy for America Program.
Next REAP Application Deadline: March 31, 2022
AMERICAN CLEAN POWER ASSOCIATION NEWS & RESOURCES
Celebrating Clean Power’s Progress and Reflecting on ACP’s First Year
ACP was created to unite the power of America’s clean energy industry. Our trade association brings together wind, solar, transmission and storage companies, along with manufacturers and construction companies, project developers and owners/operators, utilities, financial firms, and corporate purchasers of clean power to advance our shared goals and to transform the U.S. power grid to a low-cost, reliable, and renewable power system.
Featured ACP Resources
- Clean Power 101
- Clean Power Nebraska
- Careers in Clean Energy
- Solar as a Neighbor: Living Near a Solar Project
- What happens when a solar facility is decommissioned?
- Wind Turbines and Shadow Flicker: Facts and Proven Mitigation Strategies
- Renewable Energy Makes the Grid More Reliable
Additional recommended reading on the above topic: Three Myths About Renewable Energy and the Grid, Debunked, by Amory B. Lovins and M.V. Ramana, Yale Environment 360
Renewable energy skeptics argue that because of their variability, wind and solar cannot be the foundation of a dependable electricity grid. But the expansion of renewables and new methods of energy management and storage can lead to a grid that is reliable and clean.
ALSO OF POTENTIAL INTEREST
- Energy-Storage.news’ top 10 news stories of the year 2021
- The Top 15 Climate Developments of 2021, by Laurie Stone, Senior Writer/Editor for the Rocky Mountain Institute