Large solar project planned for Indiana’s reclaimed mine land

A coal producer and renewable energy company have teamed up to put solar farms on reclaimed mine land in Indiana and Illinois.

Peabody Energy and RWE Clean Energy hope the projects will generate 5.5 gigawatts of solar and battery storage all together.

That’s enough to power more than 850,000 homes — nearly five times as much energy as what the Mammoth Solar project in Pulaski County will produce once finished.

Vic Svec is the Peabody’s vice president of investor relations. He said getting into the solar business will help the company be sustainable — in more ways than one.

“We are also a company that closes up those coal mines, reclaims the land to a condition as good or better than when we found it and really offers it for generations to come in a productive way. And what more productive an efficient way than to be able to use that for continued energy creation?” Svec said.

CEO Andrew Flanagan said the partnership — called R3 Renewables — also gives RWE a willing, large landowner.

“That is where the reclaimed mining lands becomes a tremendous upside, a benefit. You know, we’re really create a win-win with the local communities,” he said.

Though Flanagan said some of the panels will still have to be on private land near the reclaimed mines.

The companies haven’t identified buyers for the solar yet, but said there’s no shortage in demand for renewable energy — particularly for large commercial and industrial customers like AI data centers.

RWE said it hopes to have the solar projects up and running in about four years.

Rebecca is our energy and environment reporter. Contact her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter at @beckythiele.