The U.S. Department of Energy will enter into realty negotiations with Hecate Energy LLC for a solar project capable of delivering up to one-gigawatt of clean energy within an 8,000-acre area of DOE owned land at the Hanford Site in Washington State.
The move is part of the Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative, which aims to repurpose parts of DOE-owned lands—portions of which were previously used in the nation’s nuclear weapons program—to support the growth of America’s clean energy economy.
Hecate Energy will have the opportunity to negotiate a realty agreement for up to 8,000 acres at Hanford that DOE is making available for development of a gigawatt-scale solar photovoltaic system with battery storage, DOE said on July 25.
The selection was made through a competitive qualifications-based process for evaluating and ranking proposals.
The selection comes after public comments on a request for information in August 2023, a Cleanup to Clean Energy information day at Hanford in September 2023, and a request for qualifications issued in March 2024.
DOE and Hecate Energy will undergo a negotiation process for a realty agreement, and DOE may cancel negotiations and rescind the selection for any reason during that time.
In December 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order 14057, which calls on agencies to achieve 100% clean electricity by 2030 and directs them to authorize use of their real property assets, including land for the development of new clean electricity generation and storage through leases, grants, permits, or other mechanisms.
Since announcing the Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative in July 2023, last year, DOE has announced the selection of developers for carbon-free electricity projects in Idaho, Nevada, South Carolina, and now in Washington state.
In addition to supporting the Administration’s clean energy goals, this project has the potential to benefit the Hanford site, Tribal Nations, and surrounding communities, while complementing local efforts to plan for the future, DOE said.
DOE said it will complete environmental review and applicable regulatory processes, and continue to communicate and partner with industry, Tribal Nations, communities, stakeholders, regulators, and others as clean energy projects are developed on DOE land.
