RE-Powering Webinars
EPA hosts webinars to help stakeholders explore development of renewable energy resources on formerly contaminated lands. The webinars highlight EPA resources; feature presentations by renewable energy and land redevelopment experts; and share examples of successful projects, programs and policies.
Check out previous webinars, recordings, slides and materials:
Successful State Programs for Renewable Energy on Contaminated Sites – February 2024
Successful State Programs for Renewable Energy on Contaminated Sites
The Successful State Programs for Renewable Energy on Contaminated Sites webinar provides information, including examples and helpful resources, on state renewable energy programs that were specifically designed to prioritize the use of landfills, mine sites, and other potentially contaminated lands and have been successfully implemented. States such as New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Illinois have large-scale programs in place that resulted in the successful development of many megawatts of new renewable energy projects on RE-Powering sites. The state programs include financial incentives, procurement preferences, streamlined permitting, liability relief, and hands-on project development assistance designed and implemented by states over the past decade or more.
Drawing on its national best practice research and profiles of more than five dozen programs across more than a dozen states, EPA's RE-Powering America's Land Initiative hosted this webinar to provide information on common types of successful state programs and their impacts as well as tips and resources to assist with implementation. Many states and local communities are considering how to expand contaminated site reuse as part of their greenhouse gas reduction plans while preserving agricultural lands and other greenfield sites. To share on-the-ground knowledge, a panel of developers with experience planning and implementing renewable energy projects on contaminated sites, describe their participation in state programs and how those programs have reduced the risks, improved the speed, and lowered the costs of their projects.
To learn more about this topic please visit the RE-Powering America's Land Initiative Incentives and Policies site. The January 2022 webinar entitled Unlocking Brightfields Potential: State Programs to Encourage Renewable Energy Siting on Contaminated Lands - RE-Powering America's Land Initiative also provides information on common types of state programs, program impacts, steps to select and design successful programs, and program implementation tips.
Potential Environmental Liability Associated with Developing Clean Energy on Mine Land Webinar – July 2023
Potential Environmental Liability Associated with Developing Clean Energy on Mine Land
The Clean Energy Demonstration on Mine Land Technical Assistance Webinar Series included a webinar entitled Potential Environmental Liability Associated with Developing Clean Energy on Mine Land. This webinar was hosted by the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) and included a brief overview of OCED’s mission and technical services, a detailed presentation by three EPA representatives discussing liability protections and a Q&A session.
Following are some of the key points related to risks and potential liability at contaminated mine sites being considered for renewable energy projects.
- Renewable energy projects on contaminated mine sites have expanded significantly in recent years, most of which are solar with a small number of wind and biomass systems.
- Development and deployment of renewable energy projects on contaminated land presents some unique challenges related to financing, clean-up costs, risks and community concerns.
- Mine lands requiring cleanup are similar to the vast majority of contaminated lands in that they are likely to be addressed by state cleanup programs.
- State and federal cleanup laws often include liability protections that are generally self-implementing and may not require EPA approval.
- EPA works with developers to address potential liability issues and may provide a property-specific document to address those issues.
- EPA encourages developers to consult with legal counsel and appropriate state, tribal, or local environmental protection agencies before taking action to acquire, cleanup, or redevelop contaminated property.
EPA provided summary information on existing projects, liability terms and considerations, potential landowner liability protections (e.g., comfort letter, prospective purchaser agreement), and tips and expectations for communication. Available resources and contact information were also provided. Please visit DOE’s Clean Energy Demonstration Program on Current and Former Mine Land for additional information.
State and Federal Data in the RE-Powering Mapper 3.0 - August 2022
State and Federal Data in the RE-Powering Mapper 3.0
The webinar is a demonstration of the updated EPA RE-Powering Mapper. Learn how data included in the RE-Powering Mapper is critical to putting idle and underutilized land back to productive reuse. The mapper demonstration walks through how to identify contaminated lands that might be suitable for renewable energy development.
EPA's RE-Powering Mapper is an interactive web application that allows users to identify contaminated lands, landfills and mine sites for renewable energy development. Using renewable energy criteria developed in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), EPA has pre-screened over 190,000 sites for their renewable energy potential. As part of this effort, EPA collaborated with state agencies from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Unlocking Brightfields Potential: State Programs to Encourage Renewable Energy Siting on Contaminated Lands - RE-Powering America's Land Initiative - January 2022
The Unlocking Brightfields Potential webinar explores how state-based programs increase renewable energy projects on landfills, brownfields, mines, and other contaminated lands. It discusses common types of state programs, program impacts, steps to select, and design successful programs, and program implementation tips.
States with the most renewable project development on contaminated lands, landfills, and mine sites typically have fostered, designed, and implemented longstanding, state-specific programs targeted at underutilized lands.
The webinar features a panel with agency staff from three leading states who discuss how they have created and managed successful programs. These states continue to adapt programs to support environmental, land reuse, and economic policy goals in their jurisdictions to expand contaminated site reuse and steer renewable development away from greenfield sites and agricultural lands. See Incentives and Policies for more detailed information.
Power and Pollinators: Pollinator-Friendly Landscapes for Solar Facilities - July 2020
Power and Pollinators: Pollinator-Friendly Landscapes for Solar Facilities
The Power and Pollinators webinar examines how planting for pollinators on RE-Powering sites benefits cleaning up contaminated sites while beautifying communities. Planting for pollinators can help protect caps, control runoff, and provide habitat for struggling pollinator communities.
The Power and Pollinators: Pollinator-Friendly Landscapes for Solar Facilities and Beyond webinar was hosted by: the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, VHB, Fresh Energy and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The webinar explores the relationship between solar installations, contaminated lands and landfills, and pollinators.