Panamint Capital has begun construction on the Big Rooter Power solar farm in Bremond, Texas, a $1.7 billion project expected to become one of the nation’s largest solar installations. The 1.2-gigawatt facility will be developed on land adjacent to the Twin Oaks coal-fired power plant and Calvert surface coal mine, both of which will remain operational. The developer claims it will be the largest solar array ever built at a brownfield site in North America.
The project is structured in two phases, with the first 491-megawatt section scheduled to begin operations in August 2028, followed by the remaining 658 megawatts in August 2029. The 10,000-acre site will also include 1.6 gigawatt-hours of battery storage and 20 miles of extra-high-voltage transmission lines. The company has indicated it has the infrastructure and natural gas access to develop at least 800 megawatts of additional gas-fired generation capacity.
Big Rooter represents a distinctive approach within the growing coal-to-solar sector, which has primarily focused on converting abandoned mines and retired industrial sites. Other similar projects include the 186-megawatt Tilden Solar Project in Illinois and the 111-megawatt Martin County Solar Project in Kentucky, both operational since the previous year. The market for such projects has been supported by federal incentives including the 2021 infrastructure law and 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, though recent policy changes have reduced some tax credits.
Paramount to the project’s viability, Panamint secured clean energy incentives before federal policy shifts took effect. The company notes that Big Rooter qualifies as an energy community, making it eligible for a federal investment tax credit worth 50% of total project costs. Despite launching the solar initiative, Panamint stated that Twin Oaks coal plant operations will continue, asserting that the facility provides economical, reliable power to Texas ratepayers and that the solar farm’s annual generation would offset the coal plant’s carbon emissions.
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