0:01

Latitude Media, podcast

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at the frontier of climate technology.

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Transmission backlogs, land constraints, local

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pushback, they're all causing headaches for developers

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of wind, solar, and battery projects. And

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that's making brownfields more attractive for

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renewables and a range of novel industrial

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scale storage and carbon removal projects.

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An Italian company is planning a compressed carbon

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dioxide storage project on the site of an

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old coal plant in the Midwest. It's a first

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of a kind, and it may offer a pathway for

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the hundreds of gigawatts of long-duration storage

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that are needed to hit net zero emissions. I'm

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Stephen Lacy, I'm the executive editor at

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Latitude Media, and this is The Latitude,

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dispatches from the new frontiers of climate technology.

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Each week we bring you stories from our journalists and columnists

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reporting at the commercial edge of the energy transition.

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Today editor Lisa Martine Jenkins presents

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a story from contributor Emma Faringer Merchant

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on the surge of interest in old industrial sites

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to host frontier climate projects.

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Building

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on brownfields, a first in the US storage project lands

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on a coal site by Emma

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Faringer

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Merchant. Today, the Columbia Energy

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Center in Partyville, Wisconsin, looks

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much like any coal plant. Smokestacks

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billowing into the air and nondescript buildings,

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all surrounded by chain-link fences.

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But in a matter of years,

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a huge oblong dome is expected

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to be plopped onto 12 acres of the site. Inside,

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the dome will house a pioneering long-duration

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energy storage technology, the first

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of its kind planned in the US. The

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Midwestern utility Alliant Energy owns

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the property and will be one of the first

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to install this type of storage project, which

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is designed by an Italian company called Energy

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Dome and relies on compressed carbon

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dioxide. Once completed, the 20

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megawatt project will have the capacity to power

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about 20,000 homes. If it's successful,

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the utility is interested in adding even more domes,

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potentially up to a dozen, after the

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site's life as a coal facility ends in 2026. Reusing

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sites like these for clean energy projects is not a new

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concept. Indeed, industry

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observers have been encouraging the placement of renewable

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projects on brownfields for over a decade. But

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their use for long-duration storage projects,

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especially by the same utility that already owns the

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property, is a relatively new variation

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on the theme. Alliance reasons for building

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the project on the site of its own coal plant embody

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some of the advantages of the practice, which

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remains niche even after years of enthusiasm

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from state and federal government. There are indications

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that building on brownfields could become more common,

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however, especially as fossil fuel

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plants continue to retire and the benefits,

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including all-important access to transmission, are

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increasingly attractive. Illinois

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has recently provided funding to transform

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five old coal sites into solar facilities. An

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alliance itself has built a solar project

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on an old coal ash landfill. In

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Wyoming, the Bill Gates-backed Terra

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Power is developing a nuclear project near

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the location of an old coal plant. Building

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clean energy and climate tech

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projects on brownfields

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is happening a lot more, I think, than anybody

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really realizes, said Gail Mosey, a

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senior researcher in land reuse at the National

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Renewable Energy Lab. In many cases,

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it's the best reuse of land. Today,

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though, these cases of transformation still

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represent a tiny sliver of the country's total

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brownfield

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sites, which now number one is the largest.

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more than 450,000. Only

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about 500 renewable energy projects have

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been built on those sites, according to data

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from the Environmental Protection Agency. It

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remains an open question when and if

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climate tech developers will fully embrace building

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on these sites, but there is certainly a potential

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synergy between the large number of them and

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a significant capacity that needs to be added

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to the grid, especially storage capacity.

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A grid built for net zero emissions will need

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between 225 and 460 gigawatts of long-duration energy storage by 2050 alone,

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according to a recent Department of Energy report. Building

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on brownfields can be easier for a developer for

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a number of reasons, said experts like Mosie.

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Perhaps highest on that list is the potential

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to avoid long interconnection lines, a

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notorious project killer. In 2023,

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the U.S. interconnection backlog

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exceeded two terawatts, a figure

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likely to intimidate any developer. Many

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previous site uses, like manufacturing

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or electricity production using fossil fuels,

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required a connection that can be reused. In

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Wisconsin, that's a key consideration for Alliance.

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One of our objectives is to try to retain the interconnect

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capacity opportunities that we have at those retiring

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plants, said Mike Bremel, the company's

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director of engineering and customer solutions. Though

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Alliance coal plant is slated for decommissioning

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in the same year that the dome is projected to be constructed,

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there's incremental capacity left

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on the grid that the utility can tap into. Finding

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a new location for the storage project would

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have required Alliance to put it at the end of a

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long queue.

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MISO has more than 120 Wisconsin projects currently

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in line. Cheap land is also good

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for clean energy projects because that

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cost gets factored into the

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overall levelized cost of electricity.

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Certain sites may need remediation, but

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previously used land can be cheaper than green

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fields, said Soji Adelaja, a professor

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of land policy

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at Michigan State University.

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Cleaning up those sites could also help a project

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move forward in the regulatory process by

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creating societal benefits that decision makers

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may recognize. The fact of the matter

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is, we just don't have enough money to clean up

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all the sites across the country," said Adelaja.

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By going from some of the more toxic and environmentally

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degrading uses of land to some of the more

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promising and green and renewable uses of land,

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that's just a major, major, major

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gain for society.

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Governments and community members may be eager for

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an abandoned site to be put to new use, said

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Mosie. In fact, renewables projects

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on undeveloped land have a time-paced

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pushback from environmental groups and community groups

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who say it would be better to build on already disturbed

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sites. In certain circumstances,

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redevelopment can even mean financial incentives.

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The EPA, for instance, provides a variety

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of grants for development on brownfields, and

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has created a map specifically focused on

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brownfields that could be redeveloped for renewable

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energy. Though currently it only estimates

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potential for wind, solar, geothermal,

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and biomass

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projects, but not storage.

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Alliant received a Department of Energy Demonstration

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grant to build its long-duration energy storage

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project. The Inflation Reduction Act also

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includes tax credits for projects in energy

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communities, which includes areas with brownfields

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or closed coal mines. With all this

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upside, it may seem odd that more of those projects

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haven't been completed. There are more than 3,600 solar

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projects larger than 1 megawatt

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across the U.S., according to a U.S.

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Geological Survey database. EPA

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data suggests only 465 of

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those are on brownfields. But

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there are also hurdles

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when picking a used site. Community

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engagement, for instance, can present a challenge

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for building on brownfields, because projects

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still require local consultation and buy-in.

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In the case of Alliant's energy dome, the storage

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project will replace a facility that's polluted the

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surrounding area since the 1970s. Though

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the new installation shouldn't emit anything

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if it works properly, it isn't entirely

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without risk. It uses carbon dioxide,

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essentially storing it in a big balloon inside

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the dome, and switching it between liquid

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and gas forms to store and release energy.

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Carbon dioxide is dangerous if released at

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significant volumes. It displaces

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oxygen, which can cause vehicles to stop

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working and people to escape.

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The

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energy dome isn't far from nearby towns,

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so for safety, the design includes sensors

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inside and outside of the dome. Alliant

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said they've consulted with the local community

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on the project.

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The potential to provide some new jobs and buy equipment

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for the project from within the state, along

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with the project's first in the US status, helped

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build local interest, according to Oliver Schmitz,

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an associate dean of research innovation and

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engineering professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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Schmitz worked with Alliant on its DOE proposal

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and helped found a university initiative focused

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on community-led energy transition

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projects.

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I think as a lighthouse project, it really

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plays a role in forming an innovation ecosystem,

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Schmitz said.

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It's a real landmark.

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Alliant's existing control of the site also

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provided another advantage to make construction simpler.

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Very old sites can also have a lot of history,

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numerous past users, and an opaque

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chain of ownership that may be difficult to navigate

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in order for a new company to purchase or clean

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up the land. Seeking out a site

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takes on new complexity when not looking for an

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open tract of land out in the desert

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or amid farms.

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And the cleanup of certain industrial sites can be costly

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and add engineering complexity. At

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the Columbia Coal Plant, Alliant is

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installing the energy dome on a part of a property

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that was largely untouched and only

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requires minimal grading. But other

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areas of the property contain coal ash ponds

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that can take years to settle. If the utility

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decides to add more domes later, they'll

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have to ensure that the land is stable. Obviously,

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that's just going to increase your engineering and potential

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changes in your design, said Bremel. Because

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each used site is different, companies often

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can't just roll in and drop solar panels

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or a novel storage technology. The

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Brownfields project needs to take into

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account the site's overall condition and

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size, which can potentially limit the configuration

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of a project, as well as its scope. More

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difficult engineering can add more costs and

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complicate the economies of scale that are so

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important in the early days of a technology's development.

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But certain clean energy projects can leave land relatively

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undisturbed. The dome, for instance,

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is basically just

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placed on top of a site.

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Mosey said adding value, rather than taking

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it from an untouched piece of property, is

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always a worthwhile endeavor. And

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today, there's plenty of sites to choose from. The

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earth has already been turned on those sites, and

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in many cases, there's just not another viable

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reuse, said Mosey.

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It is technically probably easier to buy

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a pristine piece of land and build your house on

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that land than it is to buy an old house and

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renovate it. But, she added, there

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are a lot of reasons that the proverbial old

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house should, at times, win

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out.

10:35

The Latitude is hosted by me, Stephen

10:37

Lacey, and our editor, Lisa Martine Jenkins.

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Our engineers are Sean Marquand and Roy Campanella

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III. The theme song was composed

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