RE-Powering America's Land: Siting Renewable Energy on Potentially Contaminated Land and Mine Sites Mapping Tools What is the RE-Powering America's Land initiative? Demand for renewable energy is increasing in the United States. However, renewable energy facilities often require large amounts of land and could contribute to energy sprawl if developed on greenfield sites. Through its RE-Powering America's Land: Siting Renewable Energy on Poten tially Con taminated Land and Mine Sites initiative, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified more than 11,000 EPA tracked sites and nearly 15 million acres that have potential for developing solar, wind, biomass and geothermal facilities. Using potentially contaminated land and mine sites to develop renewable energy facilities can preserve greenfields; provide developers with access to existing infrastructure; create jobs; and enable potentially contaminated property to return to a productive and sustainable use. What mapping tools are available to identify sites with renewable energy potential? EPA has developed a collection of mapping tools to help identify potentially contaminated land and mine sites with renewable energy potential, such as: • Google Earth interactive mapping tool - Search for potential sites in a particular area or across the country by renewable energy technology or type of contaminated site. See the site's location, acreage, resource availability, cleanup status and EPA contact. View site attributes such as nearby roads and buildings. • Searchable data spreadsheet and shapefile- View all of the data collected on potentially contaminated land with renewable energy potential in a spreadsheet format and upload it into other applications. Allows sorting by any category, including state, renewable energy technology and acreage. • National and state renewable energy maps -See the number of sites with renewable energy potential at the national and state level in a map format. • Data guidelines - Review the methodology, data sources, screening criteria and key considerations used in the mapping analyses. EPA has developed additional tools, such as: fact sheets on federal and state financial incentives; success stories of projects where renewable energy facilities have been sited on contaminated land; and information on liability relief and other redevelopment considerations. Renewable Energy Technologies Analyzed Solar Utility scale concentrating solar power (CSP) Utility scale photovoltaic (PV) PV policy driven Non-grid connected PV Wind Utility scale wind Community wind Non-grid connected wind Biomass Biopower facility Biorefinery facility Landfill gas energy project Geothermal Flash power plant Binary power plant Geothermal heat pump Example national renewable energy map Screenshots from the Google Earth interactive mapping tool For more information, visit www.epa.gov/renewableenergyland or contact cleanenergy@epa.gov ------- |