Toyota Motor North America signed a VPPA this week with Savion for the offtake of a 100 MW brownfield solar project located on a reclaimed coal mine in Martin County, Kentucky. When completed, Toyota will have in excess of 150 MW of U.S. solar generation facilities.
A solar farm atop a former coal mine in Martin County, Kentucky may be a sign of things to come. A $231 million solar project covering hundreds of acres is slated to take over the former Martiki coal mine in Appalachia, a place that has been greatly defined by its natural beauty and the contrasting dirty business of coal mining. Its neighbor to the west, Johnson County, is famous for the singers and coal miner’s daughters Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle.
Cristen Hemingway Jaynes is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. She holds a JD and an Ocean & Coastal Law Certificate from University of Oregon School of Law and an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London.
As Gov. Andy Beshear announced this week, Kentucky is focusing on an energy future that includes renewable energy. The Martin County Solar Project, which