Solar Plant at Former Maryland Coal Mine to Supply Power to Amazon

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Amazon.com Incorporated (NASDAQ:AMZN) (Seattle, Washington), the world's leading purchaser of renewable energy, is adding to its power portfolio in the form of a power purchase agreement (PPA) made for the output from a solar power plant being built at a former coal mine in Maryland.

The Backbone solar project in Garrett County, Maryland, is being built by Competitive Power Ventures (Silver Spring, Maryland) at the 120-year-old former mine. Construction kicked off in early 2022 and is expected to wrap up next year. Upon completion, the facility will have a nameplate generating capacity of more than 175 megawatts (MW), making it Maryland's largest solar farm. The brownfield site's proximity to existing power lines and grid infrastructure means that it will be able to provide power soon after construction is completed. The energy will help power Amazon's regional data centers and fulfillment centers. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can click here for more information on the project.

The Backbone solar facility isn't the only solar plant being built at the site of a former coal mine in the U.S. In 2021, renewable energy company Savion Energy LLC (Kansas City, Missouri) got the ball rolling on plans to construct a 200-MW solar farm on 1,200 acres at the site of the former Martiki coal mine in Martin County, Kentucky, near the West Virginia border. The former mountain-top strip mine closed in the 1990s. The site has clear access to sunlight, and the facility will be able to interconnect with the 138-kilovolt Inez Substation. The facility is expected to be completed in 2025. Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM) (Toyota City, Japan) has signed a PPA for 100 MW of power from the plant. Subscribers can click here for more details of the project.

In West Virginia, SEVA WV (Fairmont, West Virginia), a part of Savion, has even grander plans for the site of the former Hobet coal mine, straddling the border of Lincoln and Boone counties. SEVA WV wants to turn the former mine site into a mixed-used development, including lodging, recreation, industry and a 250-MW solar farm situated across 3,000 acres of land. Construction of the solar farm is expected to kick off by the end of this year, with completion set for early 2025. Subscribers can click here for more information.

The Biden administration is helping aid in the transition of former mining sites to renewable energy centers. Earlier this year, the White House allocated $450 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to support the development of new clean energy demonstration projects on former mine lands.

BrightNight LLC (West Palm Beach, Florida) has big plans for the former Starfire mine in southeastern Kentucky. BrightNight plans to kick off the first phase of construction of a new solar facility at the site by 2025, constructing an initial 210 MW of solar generation, supported by 210 MW of battery energy storage. This first phase of construction is set to be completed by 2027, with electric truck maker Rivian Automotive Incorporated (NASDAQ:RIVN) (Irvine, California) as an anchor customer with a 100-MW power purchase agreement in place.

BrightNight hopes to build up the solar and battery storage facilities so that each eventually provides more than 800 MW of energy, with the final phase in place by 2030. Subscribers can click here for the related project reports.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's GMI Power Database can click here to view reports for all of the projects discussed in this article and click here for the related plant profiles.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).