Source: independent.co.uk
America's biggest coal producer is taking the plunge on renewables by launching a joint venture in solar power.
Peabody Energy Corp. announced on Tuesday that it has launched R3 Renewables with two investment firms to build utility-scale solar projects on or near former coal mining operations.
The St. Louis-based company will develop 3.3 Gigawatts (GW) of solar - enough to power about 2 million homes - and 1.6 GW of battery storage capacity over the next five years. R3 Renewables will develop on large tracts of land in Indiana and Illinois.
"We are pleased to announce this new joint venture as part of Peabody's commitment to be the coal producer of choice, creating additional value from our existing assets, supporting our own and our customers' ESG ambitions and providing added economic benefits for the communities in which we work and live," said Jim Grech, President and CEO of Peabody.
Peabody ha estado en la minería del carbón durante casi 140 años y tiene operaciones en Nueva Gales del Sur, Australia y los estados de Wyoming, Alabama, Indiana y Nuevo México en EE. UU.
The company did not report the size of the investment but it appears that its primary focus will remain in the fossil fuel industry. The Independent left a message for Peabody's representative seeking comment.
Coal is the dirtiest, most carbon-intensive of fossil fuels. While it generated 24 per cent of US electricity in 2019, the fossil fuel accounted for about 61 por ciento de las emisiones de CO2 en el sector.
En 2020, las fuentes de energía renovable -, incluidas la energía eólica, hidroeléctrica, solar, de biomasa y geotérmica, - generaron alrededor del 21 % de la electricidad en los EE. UU., solo superadas por el gas fósil.
In the same year, use of renewables surpassed both nuclear and coal for the first time in history, reported the Administración de Información de Energía de los Estados Unidos.
Como parte de los planes de EE. UU. para hacer frente a su papel en la crisis climática, el presidente Joe Biden se comprometió a alejar al país de los combustibles fósiles, creando un sector de energía limpia para 2035 y una economía de{1}cero emisiones netas a más tardar para 2050.
