Climate Solutions

In Virginia, abandoned coal mines are transformed into solar farms

Six old mining sites owned by the Nature Conservancy will be some of the first utility-scale solar farms in the region — and the nonprofit group hopes the model can be replicated nationwide

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March 3, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. EST
Abandoned coal mines are being transformed into solar installations large enough to contribute renewable energy to the electric grid. (Video: Zoeann Murphy/The Washington Post)
3 min

Empty freight cars line the railroad tracks as far as the eye can see from Tim Jennings’s backyard in Dante — a town of less than 600 residents.

“They should open up some more new mines around here,” the 61-year-old former coal miner says, pointing up at the mountains surrounding the valley. “Solar panels — that might work too.”