By Alexis Laundry

 

Last month, Dominion Energy announced a new project to re-develop 1,200 acres of formerly coal-mined land in Southwest Virginia into a 50-megawatt solar farm.[1] The project is in collaboration with the non-profit The Nature Conservancy, a global organization whose mission is “to conserve the lands and water on which all life depends” that owns the land where the project will be built.[2] In 2019, the Conservancy acquired 253,000 acres of Appalachian forest land across Southwest Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee.[3] Within the parcel, about 13,000 acres is cleared former mine lands, much of which may potentially be used for solar development.[4] Over the past year, the organization has begun getting several projects off the ground by partnering with both independent developers and utility companies. In May, the Conservancy announced a partnership with the development firms SunTribe and Sol Systems to build 75 MW of capacity on around 550 acres of the cleared mine lands, most of which are located in Virginia.[5] Through these and the Dominion project, the Conservancy hopes to showcase the feasibility of re-purposing former coal mines into revenue generating renewable energy projects.[6]

The idea of repurposing coal mined land into renewable energy projects is nothing new, but it has been slow to take off in Virginia, despite the state hosting an estimated 100,000 acres of land impacted by coal mining.[7] In many ways, former mining sites are ideal for solar development. These sites typically suffer from various contamination or safety issues, which make them unsuitable for most industrial or commercial reuse opportunities; as a result, many sit vacant.[8] They have already been cleared and graded, which circumvents many problems that proposed solar sites on farm or forested land run into.[9] There is plenty of access to infrastructure nearby, including transmission lines and roads.[10] And most importantly, Southwest Virginia’s mining region gets ample sunlight. While there are certainly some challenges that accompany development on mine land, such as more extensive permitting processes, contamination control requirements, and potential liability for remediation efforts, these can usually be overcome by good planning processes and technological solutions.[11]

The payoff of supporting these projects is potentially huge. Redevelopment of abandoned mines is accompanied by a host of environmental and economic benefits that would otherwise go unrealized. First, interest in developing these areas will facilitate the cleanup of contaminated sites, which will cause a domino effect of positive ecological effects. In order to make the sites more attractive to developers, local governments will be more motivated to fund and execute cleanups; these remediation efforts in turn lead to removal of contamination sources, improvement of water quality, and restoration of local ecosystems.[12] Second, installing renewable energy projects will contribute to an overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the region and promote the transition away from fossil fuel usage, which is of course vital to curbing the effects of climate change.[13] In terms of economic benefits, these projects will lead to local job creation, increased revenue, and the revitalization of the energy industry in the region.[14] In one of the state’s most economically distressed regions, these opportunities could prove invaluable.[15]

With much to gain and very little to lose, it seems counterintuitive that the mountains of Southwest Virginia aren’t yet covered in solar panels. Historically, a lack of funding was at least partially to blame for the state’s slow pace in implementing mine land solar projects.[16] The good news is that recent developments are making funding less of an issue; there are state and federal grant programs for abandoned mine land remediation[17], COVID-19 relief funding and the new federal infrastructure bill could be used to support development in the region[18], and the Virginia Clean Economy Act requires Dominion to invest in renewable projects on “previously developed sites.”[19] Hopefully, with new funding streams available and organizations like the Nature Conservancy willing to be the first to take the plunge, the next few years will prove promising for solar development in Virginia’s coal country.

 

[1] The Nature Conservancy, Dominion Energy Announce Innovative Collaboration for Solar Development on Former Coal Mine in Southwest Virginia, Dominion Energy (Sept. 13, 2021), https://news.dominionenergy.com/2021-09-13-The-Nature-Conservancy,-Dominion-Energy-Announce-Innovative-Collaboration-for-Solar-Development-on-Former-Coal-Mine-in-Southwest-Virginia [hereinafter Dominion Announcement].

[2] Id.

[3] Adam Bloom, The Cumberland Forest Project: 253,000 Acres of Preserved Land, Nature Conservancy (July 14, 2019), https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-priorities/protect-water-and-land/land-and-water-stories/cumberland-forest-project/.

[4] Elizabeth McGowan, Conservation group plots solar potential for retired Appalachian coal mine land, Energy News Network (May 18, 2020), https://energynews.us/2020/05/18/conservation-group-plots-solar-potential-for-retired-appalachian-coal-mine-land/.

[5] Elizabeth McGowan, Conservancy charts a solar showcase on the coalfields of Central Appalachia, Energy News Network (May 12, 2021), https://energynews.us/2021/05/12/conservancy-charts-a-solar-showcase-on-the-coalfields-of-central-appalachia/.

[6] Dominion Announcement, supra note 1.

[7] Sarah Vogelsong, Can Southwest Virginia remake itself as a laboratory for renewables?, VA Mercury (Sept. 20, 2021, 12:02 AM), https://www.virginiamercury.com/2021/09/20/can-southwest-virginia-remake-itself-as-a-laboratory-for-renewables/.

[8] U.S. EPA, Shining Light on a Bright Opportunity 1 (2011), https://semspub.epa.gov/work/HQ/176032.pdf

[9] Vogelsong, supra note 7.

[10] Id.

[11] See The Solar Foundation, Large-Scale Solar Development: A Playbook For Southwest Virginia

19–20 (2020), https://solsmart.org/wp-content/uploads/Solar_Playbook_SWVA-8c1.pdf; Steve Goodbody, Building Solar Projects on Brownfields Is Hard Work. But There’s Massive Upside to Getting It Right, Greentech Media (July 8, 2016), https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/building-solar-projects-on-brownfields-is-hard-work.

[12] See U.S. EPA, supra note 8, at 9.

[13] Id.

[14] Id. at 9­–10.

[15] See Vogelsong, supra note 7.

[16] See id.

[17] Abandoned Mine Land, VA Dept. of Energy, https://energy.virginia.gov/coal/mined-land-repurposing/Abandoned-Mine-Land.shtml (last visited Oct. 22, 2021); see also The Solar Foundation, supra note 11, at 20.

[18] See Vogelsong, supra note 7.

[19] Elizabeth McGowan, Meet the Virginia conservationist trying to turn old coalfields into solar farms, Energy News Network (Sept. 29, 2021), https://energynews.us/2021/09/29/meet-the-virginia-conservationist-trying-to-turn-old-coalfields-into-solar-farms/.

Image Source: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1624172/Dominion_Highlands_Solar.jpg?p=original