The Department of Energy and Stellar Renewable Power started lease negotiations last month for a solar project at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, a federal advisory board heard Monday.
The agency hopes to wrap up negotiations by mid-August, Edwin Deshong, deputy manager for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management at Savannah River, told the site’s Citizens Advisory Board meeting Monday.
In July, DOE selected Ameresco as developer of a 75-megawatt solar project at Savannah River under the department’s Cleanup to Clean Energy Program. In June, DOE selected Stellar as developer of a 75-megawatt solar project. Contracts are contingent upon successful completion of lease negotiations.
Final agreements with DOE also hinge upon the developers doing a baseline environmental survey coordinated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DOE’s Jeff Hynds, program manager for water utilities and carbon-free energy generation, told the panel. That is getting underway now, he said.
National Environmental Policy Act studies must also be done, Hynds said. It might be about three years before ground is broken on the project, he added.
DOE has requested the commercial developers use American-made solar panels, Hynds said in response to a board question. But this is not officially deemed a federal project so it is not bound by buy-American policies, Hynds added.
The realty agreement between DOE and the solar development stems from a request for qualifications DOE issued in March. The document said DOE’s search for clean-energy developers at Savannah River is not governed by the Federal Acquisition Regulation but rather “supports a real estate transaction granting temporary use of DOE controlled property.” The developers are responsible for lining up their own financing, equipment, environmental permits and power line interconnection agreements.
Power generated by the Savannah River Cleanup to Clean Energy solar projects will not be used inside the fence, Deshong said. “We are going to feed the grid and the department will receive energy credits,” Deshong said in response to a board question.
