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A tract of 98,000 solar panels stretched over 300 acres on a hillside near Hookstown in Beaver County is proving to be a viable and innovative use of abandoned strip-mined land.
The idea is one state officials say they want to see more of statewide, instead of putting solar panels on productive prime farmland.
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, state DEP acting secretary Jessica Shirley, state Sen. Elder Vogel and Zabriawn Smith, Housing Opportunities of Beaver County executive director, staged a press conference on the land Thursday to tout the viability and benefits of solar panels as an alternative green energy source, using previously mined lands that virtually have no other use.
The site, owned by Four Twelve Renewables, is partnering with Dollar Energy Fund to help defray utility bill costs for lower-income residents. Dollar Energy Fund, a Pittsburgh-based social services agency, makes grants available to those who are ineligible for government assistance and provides direct help to prevent termination of electrical service and restoration of it. The agency also partners with community-based organizations to provide resources to help benefit low-income households.
The bifacial solar panels on the land are connected to an electrical grid. BE Pine has been in operation since late 2023 and generates about 66 million kilowatt hours of electricity.
Four Twelve Renewables is partnering with Dollar Energy Fund to use proceeds generated from the project, along with utility company matching funds, to provide assistance grants to low- and limited-income Pennsylvania residents. These once-a-year, per-household grants will provide help with the residents’ basic natural gas, water, wastewater and electric utility service bills. The proceeds are expected to support and sustain 250,000 low- and limited-income households with more than $75 million in utility assistance over the next 35 years. That is about 35 percent higher than Dollar Energy Fund’s projections without proceeds from the solar facility, according to information from the Four Twelve Renewables website.
“We have an amazing opportunity here to rejuvenate these otherwise unused spaces by harnessing the power of the sun to provide clean, affordable energy and benefit local communities,” said John Markwell, a board member of Four Twelve Renewables, which acquired the property for the BE Pine solar facility in Greene Township. That was the remote site, located on a hill at the top of a winding road in Pine Township, where the Shapiro-Davis Administration made the announcement Thursday.
“This is forfeited land and is considered a brownfield site,” Markwell said. “You’re not only reusing the land and repurposing it, it is a better idea than establishing it on prime farmland.”
Davis pointed out that many acres throughout Pennsylvania bear scars from past strip mining activities.
“As the steel plants or coal mines closed, … local residents live in the shadows of brownfields or abandoned mine lands that can cause pollution. As we see more opportunities for investment in solar projects, Pennsylvania should be strategic about promoting sites that can be remediated and put to good use, generating clean energy, creating new jobs and providing additional tax revenues for local municipalities,” the lieutenant governor said. ” The report we’re releasing makes it clear that former coal communities are assets and poised to be big winners as we transition to a clean energy economy.”
The DEP released a new report, “Assessment of Solar Development on Previously Impacted Mine Lands in Pennsylvania,” which identified nearly 169,000 acres of abandoned mine lands across the commonwealth that could potentially support solar facilities. That includes 27,000 reclaimed and 142,000 unreclaimed acres.
“Pennsylvania has tremendous potential for solar energy on abandoned mine lands. Our report shows that putting solar panels on just a small fraction of the suitable abandoned mine lands could produce enough electricity to power Pittsburgh,” Shirley said. “We can clean up these sites, put them back into use with solar energy, and create jobs all at the same time.”
She added that many communities have struggled to repurpose such sites to get them ready for the future. By using abandoned mine sites for solar, it is creating jobs and helping cut costs for consumers.
Vogel touted the use of abandoned strip-mined lands as a preferable use.
“It makes a lot more sense putting these solar panels on mined land instead of on prime farmland,” he said.
“It will take 70,000 to 90,000 solar panels to meet statewide requirements,” said Vogel, who is chairman of the state Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, ” and you don’t have to use prime farmland to do this.”
A Pennsylvania American Water representative who attended the gathering said the solar operation will provide the utility with electrical power for 15 years. The water company also is partnering with the Dollar Energy Fund in its assistance program, he said.
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