The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced plans to construct a 1 GW solar farm on the Hanford Site, a former top-secret nuclear site in Washington State. This initiative is part of the DOE’s Cleanup to Clean Energy program, which aims to repurpose portions of federal lands, previously utilized for the nation’s nuclear weapons program, for clean energy production.
The DOE will collaborate with Hecate Energy to transform the 8,000-acre Hanford Site. The selection of Hecate Energy followed a competitive qualifications-based process. Both parties will engage in negotiations for a realty agreement, with the DOE reserving the right to cancel these negotiations and rescind the selection at any time.
The Hanford Site, established in 1943 during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project, was used for producing plutonium for the world’s first atomic bombs. Located in a semi-arid desert along the Columbia River, the site will now be repurposed for solar energy generation.
US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm commented, “DOE is transforming thousands of acres of land at our Hanford site into a thriving center of carbon-free solar power generation, leading by example in cleaning up our environment and delivering new economic opportunities to local communities.”
Under the Biden-Harris administration, nearly 90 GW of solar capacity has been added to the grid, sufficient to power approximately 13 million homes.
