NextEra chosen by DoE for solar project above New Mexico nuclear waste site

The Department of Energy said Tuesday it is moving forward with plans to build solar panels over the agency’s nuclear waste site in New Mexico, selecting NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) to negotiate a deal to deploy at least 150 MW of electricity to the grid with a 100 MW storage system.

The project is set to be located on up to 1,800 acres at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in the New Mexico desert, where nuclear waste is buried in salt caverns 2,150 ft below the surface.

WIPP was the last DoE site to secure a developer contract in the agency’s year-old Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative; the others are South Carolina’s Savannah River Site, Washington state’s Hanford Site, Nevada National Security Site, and Idaho National Laboratory.

The program is part of the agency’s effort to partner with industry, tribal nations, communities and others to implement a process for further development of clean energy projects on DoE-owned land.