Turning coalmines into solar energy plants ‘could add 300GW of renewables by 2030’

The Loy Yang brown coalmine and power plant in the Latrobe valley, Victoria, Australia. The Loy Yang A power station is expected to be decommissioned in 2035 with the mine retired. Photograph: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/The Guardian

Turning recently closed coalmines into solar energy plants could add almost 300GW of renewable energy by 2030, converting derelict wastelands to productive use, according to a new report.

In a first of its kind analysis, researchers from Global Energy Monitor (GEM) identified 312 surface coalmines closed since 2020 around the world, and 134 likely to close by the end of the decade, together covering 5,820 sq km (2,250 sq miles) – a land area nearly the size of Palestine.