Old Coal Mine Becomes Solar Farm Powering Google 24/7

Where coal once powered America, clean energy is now taking root in the most fitting way possible.

A 500-acre stretch of abandoned strip mine in West Virginia is becoming home to Mammoth Solar, a groundbreaking project that pairs solar panels with zinc batteries capable of storing power for 10 hours. Google will buy all the energy produced there as part of its push to run on carbon-free electricity 24/7.

The $350 million project represents something bigger than one solar farm. It's proof that renewable energy can finally deliver power when the sun isn't shining, solving the puzzle that has limited solar and wind for years.

Just a decade ago, storing renewable energy wasn't economically possible, says Jon Yoder, president of MN8 Energy, which partnered with Google on the project. When lithium-ion batteries became affordable a few years later, they could only store power for about four hours, enough to cover the evening demand spike but not much more.

MN8 and Google tested dozens of battery combinations to find something that could bridge longer gaps without breaking the bank. Zinc batteries stood out because they efficiently convert stored energy back to electricity while using Earth-abundant materials that don't catch fire like some lithium batteries can.

The batteries come from a company called Eos and rely on zinc and bromine instead of rare materials with fragile supply chains. That makes them easier to scale up and more resilient to global disruptions.

The Ripple Effect

This project does more than transform one piece of abandoned land. It shows a path forward for communities built on fossil fuels to become clean energy hubs without starting from scratch.

The timing matters too. As more companies and cities commit to round-the-clock clean power, they need storage technology that works economically at large scale. Zinc batteries could fill that gap, making it possible to retire more coal and gas plants while keeping the lights on reliably.

West Virginia coal miners once powered the nation's growth. Now their former worksite is helping power its clean energy future.