Solar energy seizes "lands that no one else wants"

For two decades, coal was mined from a Bent Mountain mine in eastern Kentucky. But in a surprising movement in the heart of coal, a rival, solar energy, is preparing to move forward.

From the Appalachians in the United States up to Queensland Australia and Chernobyl in Ukraine, develops or builds solar and wind parks in places that are not normally badociated with clean energyand in some areas that have long resisted.

Solar panels on so-called industrial sites, land that is home to mines, power plants, or that have been affected by a nuclear disaster may be less expensive than decontaminating the land and turning it into a park. At the same time, It is possible to turn environmental enemies into friends.

"We are fundamentally transforming these ballasts for the community into an badet"Chad Farrell, executive director of Encore Renewable Energy, a Vermont-based developer plans to install solar panels in Appalachian coal ash basins. "They are not going to get a large badet generating revenue in an old landfill."

Solar energy is already installed in the Chernobyl nuclear zone, in a former, gigantic coal-fired power plant in Canada, as well as in landfills and other abandoned industrial sites throughout New England, where renewable energies are popular rare.

At the same time, the BHP Group, the world's largest mining company, is studying permits and engineering projects to turn closed sites in Arizona and New Mexico into solar and storage facilities.

Regions that have long depended on traditional energy sources for employment and tax revenues are turning more and more to solar and wind energy, consolidating their momentum towards the general public at a time when the coal industry is losing momentum. in decline The energy produced by coal combustion in the United States fell by 6.3% in 2018, with nearly 13 gigawatts of coal-fired power plants having been shut down, according to BloombergNEF. This was only exceeded in 2015, with the closure of 15 gigawatts of coal-fired power plants.

"It's a land nobody else wants"Says Jenny Chase, an badyst at BloombergNEF in Zurich.

In Queensland, Genex Power Ltd. Already produces enough electricity to power nearly 26,500 homes in a 50 megawatt solar farm built on the Kidston Gold Mine, where metal was discovered in the early 1900s and operations were finally closed. In 2001, Genex, which acquired the Barrick Gold Corp. site, plans to add a second 270 megawatt solar power plant, a 250 megawatt pumped hydroelectric power station and a 150 megawatt wind farm.

The pumped hydropower will utilize two existing mine pits, which use solar energy or the network during off-peak hours to move water from a lower reservoir to a second storage group. higher, then release during periods of high demand. , cascading on two turbines producing energy. For generations, the site will provide enough energy for approximately 280,000 homes, "said Simon Kidston, CEO of Genex.

The transformation of Queensland, meanwhile, could be replicated in other historic mining sites, according to the Australian Clean Energy Corporation, which provided debt funds in the initial stage of the project. In the former Drayton coal mine in Australia, about 241 kilometers north of Sydney, Malabar Coal Ltd. plans to develop a 25 megawatt solar farm.

In eastern Kentucky, active mining activities at the Bent Mountain site will be completed by the end of summer, said Ian Krygowski, EDF Renewable Energy Development Director. , which develops a solar farm of 100 megawatts. The site, located between wooded mountains, will be the subject of recovery work to convert it into a series of trays sheltering solar energy.

Next year, a modest 3.5 megawatt solar farm in southwestern Virginia will replace a closed mine in 1957. The developer Sun Tribe Solar is collaborating on the project with several groups, including the regional environmental group Appalachian Voices , in the project in Wise County.

"Lands are marked by the extractive industries that have been the main economic driver," said Chelsea Barnes, new director of economic programs at Appalachian Voices. "This is an important visual element to show the region that it can still produce energy, but in a way that does not degrade or pollute the Earth."

For the solar industry, on-site construction of old power plants and some abandoned mines is an opportunity to take advantage of the existing network infrastructure. But it is also a recognition of the scarcity of the land. According to Chase of BNEF, some places limit the amount of solar energy that can be built in agricultural areas.