In Robertson County, central Texas, the vast land has always been known for its deep black brown coal. However, recently, rows of pile drivers have been erected on the horizon here, breaking the silence of the mining area in the past. This energy base, named Double Oaks, is witnessing an unprecedented energy experiment - a giant photovoltaic power station with a total investment of up to 1.7 billion US dollars and an installed capacity of 1.2GW is breaking ground here. Surprisingly, the operating 310MW coal-fired power plant next to the construction site has not received any notice of shutdown, and the two will coexist on this 10000 acre land for a long time.

Coal, electricity, and photovoltaics in the same frame

This is not the traditional concept of 'returning all coal'. Developer Panamint Capital has made it clear that although the Da Lu Te photovoltaic project is located on existing coal mining land, it is not intended to replace coal, but to expand capacity. After the project is fully completed, the total power generation capacity of the Twin Oaks base will reach an astonishing 1.5GW. This seemingly contradictory layout is actually due to the harsh electricity reality in Texas. With the rapid development of the local economy, especially the surge in electricity demand from Dallas to Houston, the existing ERCOT grid is no longer able to meet the demand. Instead of waiting for the retirement of old coal-fired power plants, it is better to directly stack clean energy nearby to achieve a "1+1>2" power supply guarantee effect.

Binding computing power giants

Supporting this massive project is a long-term power procurement agreement signed into the 2050s. Although the identity of the power purchaser has not been made public, combined with JLL's report on the expansion of data centers in Texas, the answer is about to be revealed. As the fastest growing region for data center construction in the United States, Texas, especially the Dallas Fort Worth metropolitan area, is facing serious power supply bottlenecks. The Da Lu Te project not only includes photovoltaics, but also comes with 1.6GWh of energy storage batteries and 790MW of dedicated power supply capacity for data centers. This means that a continuous supply of electricity will be transmitted directly to nearby computing giants through the newly built 32 kilometer 345 kV transmission line, solving their most headache inducing power stability problem.keywords:New energy information network

Localization of the entire industry chain

In order to ensure supply chain security and boost the local economy, the project has almost achieved full industry chain manufacturing in the United States. The general contracting of the project is handled by SOLV Energy, while the photovoltaic modules are all sourced from First Solar's factories in Ohio, Louisiana, and Alabama, with a total of approximately 2 million units. In addition, the project will consume over 34000 tons of domestically produced steel in the United States and utilize Nextpower's intelligent tracking bracket to maximize power generation efficiency. According to estimates, the West District project alone can bring in $66 million in revenue for the local area throughout its entire lifecycle, and create 800 job opportunities during the construction period. Local workers will be given priority in construction, truly achieving the goal of "no fertilizer flowing into outsiders' fields".Editor/Yang Meiling