Tag: alset solar

Rochester’s Document Security Systems Inc. has launched a new business to develop utility-scale solar farms at superfund sites.

Alset Solar Inc. was formed to provide a clean energy future to polluted or underutilized properties and supplement the power grid or provide small microgrids for independent energy, company officials said.

“Solar energy is a powerful force for good,” said Melissa Sims, director and adviser of Alset Solar. “It has the potential to mitigate climate change, reduce air pollution, expand access to energy for all and contribute to global economic wellbeing.”

DSS officials noted that disputes have arisen over where to locate solar farms as the demand for renewable energies continues to grow. Opponents are concerned about visual aesthetics, noise and property values. For Alset Solar, the more than 450,000 brownfield sites, 130,000 Environmental Protection Agency superfund sites and 19 million acres of Bureau of Land Management property present a major opportunity to put unwanted, unproductive land back into use.

“We are actively identifying eligible sites in key markets and will work closely with communities to put these sites back into use and back on the tax rolls,” Sims said. “By focusing our development efforts on blighted land such as current and former contaminated properties, landfills and mines, we can transform these underutilized sites into assets, providing land resources for clean energy development and diminishing development pressures on open space.”

Sims is an attorney and chair of the environmental division of the national law firm Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman PLLC, and brings extensive experience to her role at Alset Solar.

“We launched Alset Solar to help lead DSS’s clean energy future with a focus on environmental responsibility and sustainability measures,” said DSS CEO Frank Heuszel. “As states push for more renewable energy, developers must consider the environmental and land use impacts of this so-called energy sprawl – the increasing land-use footprint of energy development. We are directly addressing these valid concerns by focusing our development efforts on underutilized properties which are appropriate for solar energy and battery storage for microgrids.”

Alset Solar is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alset Energy Inc., DSS’s holding company for its energy group projects. Alset Energy is headquartered in Texas.

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