The dirtiest parts of the energy system could help build the cleanest
According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), a think-tank, there are around 170 ongoing or completed projects to transform old fossil-fuel power stations into renewable-energy plants. The trend is spreading across the world, says Milo McBride, a research fellow at the CEIP. China, for instance, recently announced its first project—parts of the Baotou coal power plant in Inner Mongolia will be turned over to wind and solar generation, as well as battery storage.
The sites offer connections to the grid, which can save developers looking to get renewable-energy projects online lengthy delays. Researchers led by Umed Paliwal at the University of Berkeley, California, have found that 1,000 gigawatts (GW) could be added to the American grid capacity if renewable-energy projects were hooked up to existing fossil-fuel plants and probably more if retired sites were exploited. According to the International Energy Agency, an official body, renewable-energy projects that could generate about 3,000 gigawatts (GW) worldwide are waiting for a grid connection. Repurposing could help resolve that issue.
Old oil and gas wells could also be attractive. A study by Mary Kang at McGill University found that most idle wells in America and Canada might be suitable for at least some kind of geothermal-energy production. Benjamin Burke, the boss of Gradient Geothermal, an American startup, says that the cost of drilling a new well deep enough to host the technology can be prohibitive. Using old wells is comparably cheap, even if their location and build are more suited to oil and gas production.
Yet repurposing facilities presents challenges. Some former fossil-fuel sites are too compact to host vast wind and solar farms. Many will not be able to generate as much power as they did before. Around 35% of projects in CEIP’s database partly or wholly deploy technologies that produce carbon emissions, such as bioenergy (burning organic matter to produce heat) and hydrogen blending (mixing green hydrogen with natural gas).
What’s more, regulatory roadblocks may limit progress. Alexandra Klass and Hannah Wiseman, legal scholars at the University of Michigan and Penn State Law, say that obtaining permits to develop brownfield sites in America is often costlier than getting permits for pristine land. And, although some support may exist at state level, President Donald Trump has axed federal renewable-energy tax credits that reduced the cost of repurposing.
Nevertheless, demand for more ambitious green projects should continue to grow. Over the next 15 years, 300GW of coal power capacity is set to be retired around the world, and the cost of producing renewable energy could fall by up to 49%, according to BloombergNEF, a data provider. Other countries have created a more nurturing environment than America. Keith Hirsche, founder of RenuWell Energy Solutions, a renewable-energy company, says Canadian authorities fast-tracked his firm’s permit to build because it was on a brownfield site. In Indonesia the national energy-transition strategy includes plans to transform old fossil-fuel assets. Many more plants will soon be pumping out green power.
