Hecate Energy LLC, a Chicago-based renewable power developer, owner and operator, is negotiating with the U.S. Energy Dept. to build a utility-scale solar power facility with battery storage across 8,000 acres at the giant Hanford nuclear waste cleanup site in eastern Washington state. The project would provide up to 1GW of power when operational, sometime in the next five to seven years, according to the agency.
The department now is negotiating the financial terms of the land lease at the 564-sq-mile former U.S. center of nuclear weapons manufacturing that dates to World War II development of the first atomic bomb. Once a real estate agreement is in place, Hecate will lead compliance with environmental reviews that are required under the National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act.
The development effort "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,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in a statement.
Hecate, which is 40% owned by Spain-based oil giant Repsol, manages more than 20 U.S. clean power generation projects now operating or in late stage development, including two 600-MW solar projects being developed in Cheyenne County, Colo. It will work with the Bonneville Power Administration to assess the impact of the proposed solar power on the regional grid and determine necessary infrastructure upgrades, the Energy Dept. spokesperson said in an email.
Hecate also has explored offshore wind energy development, linking with developers EDF Renewables and Orsted on potential floating wind projects off the Portugal and Spain coasts, and expressing interest in offshore wind development in the Gulf of Mexico.
Federal plans to auction added Gulf sites off Texas and Louisiana later this year were cancelled late last month due to lack of bidder interest, but the US Interior Dept. said it may negotiate with Hecate on its unsolicited lease request.
The firm said it has raised more than $2 billion of financing in recent months to develop about 2 GW of renewables in the U.S.
For the Energy Dept. solar project, Hecate was selected from a group of 11 proposals in response to the agency's request for qualifications in March. DOE notes that it may cancel and rescind the selection for any reason during the negotiations process.
The solar project at Hanford is part of the agency's Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative launched last year in response to a 2021 executive order from President Joe Biden directing federal agencies to use federal land for development of renewable electricity projects. The department says it has identified about 35,000 acres to house utility-scale facilities at the large complex of former federal nuclear weapons sites.
Earlier this year, it announced similar agreements at Idaho National Laboratory, in Idaho Falls; the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C.; and the Nevada National Security Site in Nye County, Nev.
DOE said last month that Framingham, Mass.-based developer Ameresco is negotiating a land lease to deploy 75 MW of solar power and battery storage on more than 500 acres at Savannah River, with Reno, Nev.-based Estuary selected to develop a 200-MW solar project on 2,400 acres at the Nevada site; and two firms—NorthRenew Energy Partners, Becket, Mass., and Oklahoma City-based Spitfire in negotiations at the Idaho National Lab.
