Texas coal site to get 1.2 gigawatt solar conversion
Panamint Capital broke ground 23 July on a 1.2 gigawatt solar project at the Twin Oaks power station in Robertson County, Texas. Big Rooter Power will be the largest solar installation built on a former coal mining site in North America. The $1.7 billion development sits halfway between Dallas and Houston. Construction will create over 800 jobs. The first phase, Big Rooter West, is a 491 megawatt installation that will enter commercial operation in August 2028. Big Rooter East, the 658 megawatt second phase, is expected to begin construction in December 2026 and enter operation in August 2029. When complete, the Twin Oaks complex will have 1.5 gigawatts of operating thermal and renewable power, plus over 20 miles of new 345 kilovolt transmission, 1.6 gigawatt-hours of battery energy storage and 790 megawatts of data center capacity under development across the 10,000-acre site.
The project extends the working life of energy infrastructure in a region that has depended on coal for 30 years, creating construction jobs while adding renewable capacity to the Texas grid.
Source: Panamint Capital Breaks Ground on Historic 1.2 GW Solar Project at Texas Energy Site (prnewswire.com).
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