BHP identifies 500MW solar, storage and wind opportunity at old US mines

November 16, 2017
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
RMI’s Sunshine For Mines team released a report alongside BHP analysing renewable energy potential at legacy mines. Credit: RMI

Melbourne-headquartered mining giant BHP, in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), has projected 500MW of potential capacity combining solar, wind and energy storage at its old North American mining sites.

Solar PV was seen as having the highest potential at these closed or legacy mining sites with some potential for combination with energy storage. There were also a few areas where wind energy was also deemed most suitable.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

RMI’s Sunshine For Mines (SfM) team released a report alongside BHP, named ‘New Lives for Old Mines: A Method for Developing Renewable Energy at Closed Mine Sites’.

The teams have used an exhaustive methodology to analyse how legacy mines can be turned into independent power plants, storage facilities, or value-added grid-service providers. This would offer new revenue streams for redundant or inactive mines, which are often long-term liabilities for mining operators as they have to continue maintaining the sites after closure. Options for reusing mining sites are also constrained by contamination from the previous mining activity.

SfM screens mining sites and creates a environmental, permitting, and regulatory scorecard, before investigating the potential LCOE’s of various renewable energy technologies at each location.

In a brief RMI noted: “Innovations are also available around market access. For example, even in areas where no market is available, creative solutions such as wheeling the offtake to the CAISO deregulated market in California or entering into purchase agreements with local cooperatives may be possible. These solutions are feasible from a technical and regulatory perspective, and specific opportunities along these lines can be further explored.”

Most major storage technologies are also covered by SfM, including pumped hydro, chemical (Lithium-ion for example) and kinetic (flywheels for example).

SfM said: “Many saturated energy markets, such as California, have a large demand for storage to help with production and load balancing. Similarly, flywheels are maturing as a technology and can be a great grid-balancing and loadshifting storage option.”

Ultimately the aim is to transform “legacy sites from liabilities into assets”, according to RMI.

Late last year, BHP showed clear interest in installing solar-plus-storage applications for its own remote operations, as similar project plans were announced in Australia.

21 October 2025
New York, USA
Returning for its 12th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
16 June 2026
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 16-17 June 2026, will be our fifth PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2027 and beyond.

Read Next

Premium
October 17, 2025
According to Ronak Maheshwari of CRC-IB, there has been a struggle for US renewable power projects to secure necessary equity .
October 17, 2025
A group of over 20 US states are suing the Trump administration for the cancellation of the US$7 billion Solar For All Scheme.
October 16, 2025
T1 Energy and Nextracker have agreed to use the latter’s steel module frames at the former’s new 5GW module manufacturing facility in Dallas.
October 16, 2025
US utility-scale solar additions grew by 56% in 2024, reaching 30GW from 2023’s 19GW and representing over 54% of all new electricity generation capacity added in the country last year.
October 15, 2025
The average price of a solar PPA signed in North America increased 4% between the second and third quarters of 2025, according to LevelTen.
October 15, 2025
Independent power producer (IPP) Geronimo has begun construction on it’s150MW solar project in Illinois and commissioned the 125MW PV project in Michigan.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
October 21, 2025
New York, USA
Solar Media Events
November 25, 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Solar Media Events
December 2, 2025
Málaga, Spain
Solar Media Events
February 3, 2026
London, UK