Utah Commissions Million-Panel Solar Facility, Signaling Shift Away from Coal

• The Green River Energy Center in Utah’s Castle Valley has begun operations, featuring nearly one million solar panels and 500 batteries.
• The facility provides 400 megawatts of solar capacity and 400 megawatts of battery storage, sufficient to power over 100,000 homes.
• The project integrates battery storage to enable electricity generation at all hours and utilizes existing transmission lines formerly used by coal-fired plants.

Energy Transition in Utah

• Castle Valley has been a coal hub since the late 1800s, but the region is shifting toward solar and geothermal energy.
• Coal’s share of electricity generation in Utah fell from about 75% in 2015 to roughly 50% in 2025.
• Over the same period, solar energy’s share of generation grew from nearly zero to approximately 14%.

Data-Driven Planning

• The U.S. Energy Information Administration anticipates a record number of utility-scale solar and battery projects to join the national grid in 2026.
• Planners and policymakers use satellite data, such as that captured by Landsat 8, to assess renewable energy potential and track the performance of new installations.