Pre-Screening
This information is intended for sites where the cleanup program, whether Federal, state, or Tribal, has been identified.
The first phase in the redevelopment process is evaluating if your site is a viable location to develop renewable energy. The RE-Powering Mapper is a useful resource as a first step to understanding your site. Additionally, your answers to the following questions can help determine, at an initial summary level, what type of renewable energy project may be viable for your site.
Is my site large enough to consider renewable energy?
Generally, sites at least five acres of developable area can support sufficient energy generation for a viable renewable energy project. However, site size can also impact the financial feasibility of a project, regardless of the sufficiency of the resource. For example, a five-acre solar site can support up to one megawatt of energy generation. If your site is smaller than five acres, contact your RE-Powering representative in your region to discuss options.
Are local solar or other energy resources sufficient?
All sites under consideration should be screened, at a summary level, for basic resource potential before it is marketed to renewable energy developers. For medium-sized to large projects (e.g., exceeding five megawatts in generation capacity), a more detailed site-specific evaluation of resource potential is recommended at this phase or the next phase. More information on renewable energy potential.
What are the approximate local wholesale and retail prices for electricity?
Electricity prices, typically available from the utility or regional electric grid operator, can help to assess the economic viability of the renewable energy site. Higher electricity prices for renewable power usually translate into more favorable project economics.
Engaging with your local electric utility will help you understand the prices, fluctuations, and compensation programs related to supplying renewable power to the grid. If you are planning for the renewable project to serve as the electricity source for your site, review your utility bill before contacting the utility to see energy charges that may be offset by renewable power. At a statewide-level, the U.S. Energy Information Administration provides average retail electricity prices in its State Electricity Profiles and also provides historical wholesale electricity prices for certain regions.
The next phase in the process (Site Conditions and Feasibility) includes a much broader and deeper review of financial feasibility, including relevant financial incentives and policies.
Understanding local regulations or moratoriums on new renewable energy projects
Local regulations and codes play an important role in how a site can be redeveloped. Early in the process of screening a site, ensure that there are no moratoriums for renewable energy that apply to the project site by consulting with local land use officials.
To address local regulations and opportunities more broadly for promising sites, it is important that site owners managing redevelopment build an adequate team, including renewable energy professionals, environmental permitting and cleanup consultants, an attorney, and/or others as needed. The team will guide the project throughout its development process. RE-Powering provides training on building the team for contaminated land renewable projects at Training | US EPA.
Are local solar or other energy resources sufficient?
EPA’s interactive RE-Powering Mapper tool provides an initial screen of more than 190,000 contaminated lands, landfills, and mine sites in the U.S. Factors screened include distance to transmission lines, state incentives, and renewable resources. By filtering on solar, wind, geothermal, or biomass potential in the Mapper tool, users can determine the type(s) of renewable resources that may be best suited to their sites.
Furthermore, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has developed maps for various renewable resources and specific projects linked below.
Solar
NREL’s maps provide information at a regional level, while the PVWatts tool provides weather information based on site address, zip code, or latitude and longitude. The EPA’s RE-Powering Mapper provides information on a site-specific basis for more than 190,000 federal and state-tracked sites that preliminarily screen well for solar.
- NREL's Solar Energy Resource maps
- NREL’S PVWatts
- RE-Powering Mapper
- RMI’s Municipal Solar Siting Selection Tool
Wind
NREL and their partners at AWS Truepower developed an 80-meter (m) height, high-resolution wind resource map for the United States with links to state wind maps. In addition, NREL has also developed a national wind resource assessment, as well as a series of wind maps. The EPA’s RE-Powering Mapper provides information on a site-specific basis for federal and state-tracked sites that preliminarily screened well for wind.
Biomass
NREL developed a series of maps showing the biomass resources available in the United States by county. Feedstock categories include crop residues; forest residues; primary and secondary mill residues; urban wood waste; and methane emissions from manure management, landfills, and domestic wastewater treatment. The EPA’s RE-Powering Mapper provides information on a site-specific basis for federal and state-tracked sites that preliminarily screened well for biomass.
Geothermal
NREL developed a series of maps showing currently developed and planned geothermal power plant projects, as well as favorable resources for enhanced geothermal systems and identified hydrothermal sites. The EPA’s RE-Powering Mapper provides information on a site-specific basis for a number of federal and state-tracked sites that preliminarily screened well for geothermal.