Old coal-fired electric plants are being converted to manufacturing, residential, office, and recreational uses. These are massive undertakings involving dismantling giant buildings; taking down crumbling smokestacks; removing hundreds of tons of asbestos; shredding hundreds of tons of steel, copper and aluminum; and hauling hundreds of truckloads of debris.
photo credit Daniel Lozada, NYTimes
Then there’s site remediation to clean up hazardous and dangerous residues from decades of processing and burning coal.
Developers estimate around 20 coal-burning plants are candidates for this type of re-development; many others may be taken down as well. A quick scan indicates a plurality of plants are located in Michigan, Texas, Indiana and Tennessee.
Once the demolition and remediation is done, it’s time to build – and not just commercial and residential projects. One of the main attributes of these plants is they are tied into the grid, making them prime locations for green energy production in the form of solar and wind farms.
From the NYT:
In Illinois alone, at least nine coal-burning plants are on track to become solar farms and battery storage facilities in the next three years. [emphasis added] Similar projects are taking shape in Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, North Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota and Maryland. In Massachusetts and New Jersey, two retired coal plants along the coast are being repurposed to connect offshore wind turbines to the regional electrical grids [emphasis added]
Building and operating renewable energy projects has long been cheaper than fossil fuel plants. The barrier “is not economics anymore,” said Joseph Rand, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which conducts research on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy. “The hardest part is securing the interconnection and transmission access.” [which is not an issue when old coal plants are re-purposed]
Which all translates to lots and lots of very well-paid workers doing risky work for years.
What does this mean for you?
More workers’ comp premiums and claims.
