Coal power may still have a huge role to play in the American energy mix — by turning over its substantial grid infrastructure to renewable energy projects.
Energy investment firm Panamint is putting up $1.7 billion to build Big Rooter Power, an enormous solar-storage complex in Robertson, Texas that will add 1.2 gigawatts of solar power to the local grid.
Strategically placed next to the Twin Oaks coal-fired plant, the project will leverage tens of millions of dollars worth of existing infrastructure to deliver solar electricity to millions of Texans.”We believe deploying new capacity at existing energy sites is the clearest way to benefit communities, ratepayers, and the environment alike,” said Apolka Totth, CEO of Panamint.
The plan replicates a growing movement across the US to build solar and wind projects on brownfield sites like former mines — land already converted for industrial use that is much cheaper than developing undeveloped greenfields. Canary Media recently reported similar projects in Illinois, Kentucky and Louisiana built on reclaimed mine land.
Planning Big Rooter near Twin Oaks was done “with the express intention of leveraging the site’s existing characteristics to massively and rapidly expand generating capability at the lowest possible cost,” Totth told Canary Media.
The project will be one of the largest solar projects in the country. It will be built in stages. The first stage, already under construction, will bring 491 megawatts of solar online in August 2028. The second stage, slated to break ground in December 2028, will add the remaining 658 MW by August 2029, along with 1.6 GW of battery storage and 20 miles of new high-transmission power lines.
For clean energy purists, the project raises eyebrows — Panamint, which is backed by investment fund KKR, has no intention of closing the Twin Oaks plant and mine, and is in fact investigating expanding them both as part of its strategy of squeezing value from aged fossil fuel projects while building massive solar and wind infrastructure.
Long lead-time items like transformers and circuit breakers have already been ordered, and the project is believed to qualify for a federal investment tax credit worth 50% of its costs.
