Perfect location for Gigantic solar farm? The Hanford Reservation.

Since the early 1990s. The United States government has been trying to clean up the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Over the decades, At the very least it's been a constant thorn in the side of any proponents of nuclear energy. At worst, a demonstration of what happens when you hire the lowest bidder to do the most critical job, protecting our environment.

Now that might be changing. 

On Thursday, 7/25/24, The Department of Energy announced that there are negotiations to create one of the biggest, if not the biggest solar arrays and battery system in the United States.  

According to aol.com,
‘It announced Thursday that it had picked Hecate Energy based in Chicago, Ill., for a gigawatt-scale project on up to 8,000 acres of unused nuclear reservation land near the southeast edge of the Hanford site. The solar project could be operating in five to seven years.’ 

To me, the best part of this whole proposal is not just creating one of the largest solar farms in the United States but also installing battery storage which makes that power available 24 hours a day.  

This possible new gigantic solar facility would also be sharing land on the reservation with The Columbia Generating Station. The third largest energy generation facility. (Just behind the Grand Coulee Dam.) At about 1.2 gigawatts annually.  

According to their website.
‘Hecate Energy. Specializes in. Renewable energy. Generation and storage. And currently have. 40 plus projects either operating now or in development. ‘We specialize in clean energy and energy storage projects, from planning and inception through construction and operation. We discover and deploy creative approaches to structuring power purchase agreements and financing for power projects in the United States.’ 

There are still a lot of individuals who have interest in this property and what to it's to be used for. Let's hope that everybody comes to a consensus that will allow this solar farm and battery storage system to be installed. 

What could be nation’s largest solar project planned by feds at Eastern WA nuclear site (aol.com)
Feds Announce Massive Solar Project on Hanford Nuclear Site (newstalk870.am)
Hanford Site Hecate Energy - Home
Nuclear Energy: Columbia Generating Station (energy-northwest.com)