Grist: "This Texas coal mine will soon be home to a 1.2GW solar farm."
"The project will use some of the land + assets from the adjacent Twin Oaks coal-fired power plant + Calvert surface coal mine, both of which will continue operating." The clean energy project will be among the largest in the nation—and biggest solar array ever built at a brownfield site in North America.
"The giant installation will further boost Texas’ thriving solar sector, which this year is expected to generate more electricity than coal in the Lone Star State." The renewable resource is helping meet the state’s energy demand from the triple demands of data centers, manufacturing facilities, + rising air-conditioning.
"Work has started on the first phase of the solar farm, a 491-MW section that is set to go online in August 2028." The remaining 658 MW could start producing power in August 2029.
'The 10,000-acre Big Rooter site will also include 1.6 GW-hours of battery storage, an upgraded electrical substation + 20 miles new extra-high-voltage transmission lines.'
Much less beneficially, the investment firm says it also has the infrastructure + fossil gas access needed to build at least 800 MW of gas-fired generation, either for the grid or for customers like data center developers.
Seems to me a sad story of 1-step forward, 1-step backward, in terms of reaching the critically need transition to an electrostate. Not to mention the smoke emissions of coal + fossil gas will require nearly constant washing of the solar panels.
