Turning mining sites into solar power assets

China is spearheading a global drive to transform decommissioned coal mining sites into vast solar power projects, turning environmental liabilities into renewable energy assets and underscoring its dual commitment to decarbonization and land rehabilitation, according to a recently released report.

China currently leads the world in converting old coal mining sites into solar power projects, a trend that promises to advance the clean energy transition, according to Global Energy Monitor, an independent think tank.

While conversion of surface-mined lands into solar-generation projects has surged in 15 countries particularly over the past couple of years, 90 former coal mines are operating as solar-power facilities in China, with a total generating capacity of 14 gigawatts. An additional 46 projects representing 9 GW are in the planning stages, it said.

One of the projects, a 250-megawatt coal mining site to solar power project, has generated 1.418 terawatt-hours of power since it was put into operation in late 2021, said its operator China Energy Investment Corp, the country's largest coal-fired power generator by capacity.

Located in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, the massive solar farm is projected to generate 460 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually.

This output is sufficient to meet the annual power needs of 250,000 households, save 189,800 metric tons of standard coal, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 451,500 tons per year, equivalent to planting 22,600 hectares of trees, it said.

Repurposing mines for solar development offers a rare chance to bring together land restoration, local job creation and clean energy deployment in a single strategy, said Wu Chengcheng, a project manager at GEM.

The nongovernmental organization highlights that such projects can address land-utilization issues, given that over 6,000 coal mines have closed worldwide since 2010, predominantly in China and the United States.

For China, these mine conversions also provide a strategic avenue to absorb the pressing overcapacity within its solar panel manufacturing sector, aligning climate objectives with economic relief, it said.

Worldwide, more than 300 surface coal mines have been decommissioned since 2020, and 127 large coal sites are expected to close by 2030.

Together, these sites could host an estimated 288 GW of solar generation capacity, equivalent to 15 percent of existing global solar capacity, and contribute significantly to tripling renewable energy by the end of the decade.

These projects are also projected to create 259,700 permanent jobs in the solar industry globally, it said.