Since the first reactor came online in 1953, the Savannah River Site has produced plutonium and tritium for use in nuclear weapons. Now it could become a center for green energy.
The Department of Energy, which owns the site, is looking for a company interested in building a third green energy project on unused land on the 200-square-mile site, 20 miles south of Aiken.
Green energy is defined by the department as energy that is produced without the creation of carbon emissions. Green energy includes nuclear, solar and wind energy. Green energy is also known as clean energy.
The ministry issued a tender on August 21 for companies interested in building a 200-megawatt green energy project.
On June 20, the ministry commissioned Stellar Renewable Power LLC to begin negotiations to build a 75-megawatt solar farm on the site. Stellar Renewable Power signed an agreement to build the farm on August 20.
And the department on July 18 awarded Ameresco, the company that supplies steam power to the site, a contract to build a second 75-megawatt solar farm.
The effort to find companies to implement green energy projects at the Savannah River Site is part of a broader initiative to build green energy projects on unused lands owned by the Department of Energy.
The department also solicited bids for leases of land at the Hanford site in Washington, the waste isolation pilot plant in New Mexico, the Nevada National Security Site and the Idaho National Laboratory.
The department launched the Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative in response to a 2021 executive order from President Joe Biden directing federal agencies to use only green energy by 2030 and to use unused land to generate green energy.
