A corner of Nevada that was once known as a nuclear testing ground is expecting to be put back into use as a proving area for advanced new solar energy technologies.

According to the Department of Energy, about 25 square miles of the Nevada Test Site area will be set aside with an eye on developing concentrated solar technology. By doing so, the government is hoping to bring some of the most promising new solar technologies closer to mass commercial development.

"The Nevada Test Site can and should be a proving ground for new ideas and for attracting new clean energy industries that will help our state and country compete globally," said U.S. Senator Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat.

The Bureau of Land Management has also set out to establish 24 other solar energy study areas on public lands in the Southwest to further the goal of developing new clean technologies.

This initiative is reminiscent of other efforts around the country to put environmentally scarred lands back into use. For example, a growing number of cities have been working to redevelop abandoned industrial brownfield sites with photovoltaic arrays. Elsewhere, some cities have also been installing solar panels on the site of former landfills.