The Department of Energy is shopping for more qualified developers for large-scale carbon-free energy projects at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
DOE said in a Wednesday press release it is issuing another request for qualifications (RFQ) for utility-scale projects at the 310-mile federal complex as part of the Cleanup to Clean Energy Initiative unveiled in 2023. The department said in the release it is seeking qualified companies interested in developing projects of 200 megawatts or more, “including nuclear.”
This latest request for qualifications (RFQ) was published Wednesday Aug. 21 in the online System for Award Management. Material linked to the solicitation notes certain land at the DOE nuclear weapons site near the Georgia border might be suitable for small modular reactors. The head of the National Nuclear Security Administration office at Savannah River has publicly expressed interest in such a facility at the site.
According to the notice, comments and questions on the RFQ are due by Aug. 30 and proposals are due by Oct. 4.
So far, DOE has entered negotiations with solar power developers at Savannah River, Idaho National Laboratory, the Nevada National Security Site and the Hanford Site in Washington state during its first round of Cleanup to Clean Energy solicitations. A solicitation is also in the pipeline for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.
Tapping underutilized land at nuclear cleanup sites for carbon-free energy is meant to help meet President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14057, which calls on federal agencies to employ 100% clean energy by 2030.