A coal-fired power plant outside Cleveland, Ohio, is about to be retired and replaced by a solar farm and battery storage system, Inside Climate News reported.
The city of Painesville has received $80 million for the project as part of the $4.3 billion funding for new clean energy projects that the Biden administration recently announced. That money will come from the nearly $400 billion allocated toward clean energy by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
The town-owned coal plant was built in 1908, meaning that it has been powering local homes and businesses for over a hundred years, but likely at a significant cost to the health of the people in its vicinity.
Studies have shown that particle pollution from coal-fired power plants causes 3,800 premature deaths yearly in the United States (even as the vast majority of them have closed) and that their air pollution spreads for hundreds of miles.
That is in addition to the planet-overheating effects of burning dirty energy sources like coal, gas, and oil. The new solar farm, which will be Ohio's largest upon its completion, seeks to rectify those problems, creating electricity for the community without harming the planet or the respiratory systems of residents.
As a bonus, the brownfield around the plant will become the site of a wildflower meadow — supporting local pollinators and the entire ecosystem — and a bike trail.
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"This is a crown jewel, for sure," said Painesville city manager Doug Lewis.
Turning former coal plants or other dirty energy factories into clean energy sources is a pragmatic move and a symbolic victory.
Other recent examples of similar projects include a large-scale battery storage facility being constructed at the site of a former coal plant in Detroit, a former coal plant in Australia being turned into a sustainable energy hub, and the nation's "dirtiest coal plant" being turned into Nevada's largest battery energy storage system.
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