US solar developer Savion has commissioned the Martin County Solar Project (MCSP) in the US state of Kentucky, its first to be designed and built on a reclaimed coal mine.
MCSP is a 111MW project owned by Savion, a subsidiary of oil and gas giant Shell, and built on the site of the Martiki coal mine, which ceased operations in the 1990s. Savion already has two virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs) in place to sell power generated by the project, with Shell acquiring 11MW of capacity and Japanese car giant Toyota buying the remaining 100MW of capacity and associated Renewable Energy Credits.
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“Years ago, Savion saw the exceptional opportunity to develop a solar project on a former coal mine in the great state of Kentucky,” said Savion president Nick Lincon. “We’re proud to be able to bring this project into operation and grateful to everyone who made this project a reality.”
The project received approval from governor Andy Beshear in 2021, and has benefitted from a range of state support programmes, including US$600,000 worth of tax incentives from the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority’s Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act, alongside a US$231 million industrial revenue bond from the authority.
Government support has been a cornerstone of the recent growth in the US solar sector, with the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) reporting that over one-quarter of all operational solar systems in the US had been installed since the passage of the landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
The news follows a period of mixed progress for the Kentucky solar sector. In 2023, two utilities received approval to replace a coal plant with new solar and storage capacity. However, last October, those same utilities announced that they would delay any new PV capacity additions until the price of solar electricity “becomes more economically competitive”, with the tumbling cost of solar attracting investment, but presenting a challenge with regards to turning a profit.
However, the SEIA still expects Kentucky to add 4.5GW of new solar capacity in the next five years, the 16th-most among US states. Last year saw a record for solar capacity additions in the state, with utility-scale projects dominating around 250MW of capacity additions, more than double the installation figures seen in 2022 and 2023 combined.
