Kentucky mining site to become 800-MW solar farm

Plans were unveiled last week to build the largest renewable power project in Kentucky on formerly one of the largest coal mines in the US.

Starfire Mine will become home to an 800-MW solar park under plans presented by renewable energy company BrightNight, electric vehicle maker Rivian Automotive (NASDAQ:RIVN) and environmental nonprofit The Nature Conservancy.

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The BrightNight Starfire Renewable Energy Center will require a USD-1-billion (ERU 910m) investment and will also see BrightNight construct up to a 20-mile (32 km) transmission line, which will allow a further 1 GW of renewables capacity to be added in the area in the future. The project will be developed in four phases, with the first expected to start construction in 2025.

Rivian will buy 100 MW of power from Phase 1 under a power purchase agreement (PPA) with BrightNight. This will be enough to power more than 450 million miles of driving for Rivian vehicles every year.

Rivian collaborated with The Nature Conservancy to co-develop an open-source guide that considers conservation, climate and community in project selection and as a result chose to partner with BrightNight to add clean energy to the grid of eastern Kentucky.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.910)