‘Photovoltaic Mine’ to Be Built in Areas with Abandoned Mine Sites

A photovoltaic mine project will be gone ahead with at abandoned mine sites in Gangwon-do. Moreover, dormant and abandoned areas all over the nation that have been neglected will be turned into solar power generation sites-- a new profit generation model.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on December 27 that the ministry decided to pursue the photovoltaic mine project to install solar power facilities in abandoned coal mine areas put into a slump due to a decrease in coal demand and return profits to such areas.

Hambaek Coal Mine had been a stockyard of waste pumice stones from a coal mining process before it was shut down in 1993. Korea Coal Corporation, the owner of the site, will provide land of 20,000 square meters free of charge for 20 years and Korea District Heating Corporation will invest in the project. So they will start a power generation project for one-mega-watt photovoltaic power generation and a 3MW energy storage system (ESS) among others.

Local municipalities and residents in such abandoned mine areas expressed their expectations about the project as the project will create new revenue models without damaging the environment through the use of abandoned land mine sites. The government-run power generation corporations showed a big interest in the project while they were satisfied with business conditions such as securing lots and new renewable energy supply certificates and recovering investments.