US DoE allocates USD 475m to clean energy projects on mines

The US Department of Energy (DoE) on Thursday announced up to USD 475 million (EUR 439m) in funding for five clean energy projects, including coal-to-solar, on current and former mine sites across five states.

The funding, made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will be allocated to select projects in Arizona, Kentucky, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, covering various clean energy technologies, including solar, geothermal, battery energy storage, and pumped storage hydro. More details are available in the table below.

To paint a clearer picture of how big the projects are, the DoE has given descriptions for each of them, including their power generation/storage capacities, where applicable.

The coal-to-pumped storage hydro project in Kentucky envisages the conversion of a former coal mine into a closed-loop, 287-MW pumped-storage hydroelectric (PSH) plant that could provide 671,700 MWh of clean electricity annually.

The project in Nevada seeks to develop a solar photovoltaic (PV) plant and a battery energy storage system of undisclosed capacities at three active gold mines.

The project in Pennsylvania will take place on former coal mining land where the developer plans a 402-MW solar project, serving as a demonstration for future mine land-to-solar projects in the Appalachian region. The company behind it, namely Swift Current, hopes to develop about 1,000 MW over the next five years.

The project in West Virginia, on the other hand, calls for the construction of a 250-MW solar PV plant at two former coal mines.

Meanwhile, the project in Arizona revolves around the use of clean geothermal heat for the purpose of producing copper. The scheme includes the addition of a microgrid and a battery energy storage system to reduce the mines’ reliance on onsite thermal backup generators.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.924)

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