The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the EPA joined forces to come up with possible locations for renewable power plants. In a rather ironic twist, one of their best ideas was to place new power plants on polluted zones around the country. Their logic: since many proposed locations face red tape regarding environmental impacts and wilderness encroachment, why not put new solar plants on brownfields, former mines, and other contaminated sites that are unattractive to other commercial developments?

According to the EPA, there are up to 15 million acres of such land available, including 850,000 acres that the government has already cleaned up. This translates into 480,000 possible sites for solar and other renewable power plants. These sites would also offer lower costs and the possibility of preexisting infrastructure.

The health and welfare of the people who build and staff the plants at such locations is a major concern that the EPA does not address. Some sort of regulation or oversight will have to be implemented here to offer certainty of safety to companies and their employees. There is something oddly disturbing about solar power employees wearing hazmat suits.

Last year the EPA made the locations of toxic wastelands public. You can find their locations via Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth.

Posted on October 23rd in Solar Information by Dan.