'Land No One Else Wants' Gets Solar as Coal, Nukes Die

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/old-coal-mines-tarnished-nukes-164022403.html

‘Land No One Else Wants’ Gets Solar as Coal, Nukes Die
Brian Eckhouse
Bloomberg April 25, 2019

(Bloomberg) -- For two decades, coal has been pulled from a Bent Mountain mine in eastern Kentucky. But in a startling move in the heart of coal country, a rival -- solar -- is preparing to move on to the land.

From Appalachia in the U.S. to Queensland in Australia and Chernobyl in Ukraine, solar and wind farms are being developed or built in places not normally associated with clean energy, and in some regions long resistant to it.

Slapping solar panels atop so-called brownfield sites, land that housed mines, emissions-belching power plants or were tarnished by nuclear disaster, can be cheaper than decontaminating the ground and turning it into parkland. At the same time, there’s the prospect of turning environmental foes into friends.

“We’re essentially turning these drains on a community into an asset,” said Chad Farrell, chief executive officer of Encore Renewable Energy, a Vermont-based developer that’s contemplating installing solar arrays at coal-ash ponds across Appalachia. “You’re not going to get a large revenue-generating asset on a former landfill.”

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[2naSalit]

1. I like that idea

better than taking up public land needed by wildlife. The sage desert might not look like much to those from elsewhere but they are teeming with life and need to be left as they are. Besides, all I hear about are massive land covering facilities when we should be considering point-source generation in many places. If I had land out here, that's the second thing I'd be seeing to, after making sure I have good water, of course.

[mopinko]

2. i've thought about this. glad someone is doing it.

kinda poetic if solar takes over those decapitated mountains.

[IndyOp]

3. Hopeful! (nt)

[hunter]

4. We can decontaminate and restore these lands...

... and leave solar to the truly hellish parking lots and big box store roofs.