Why Rivian is funding a $1 billion photo voltaic challenge constructed on a Kentucky coal mine

Rivian, the Californian electrical truck and SUV producer, simply signed its largest contract but to purchase renewable power as a way of working towards its net-zero emissions dedication.  

The 100-megawatt deal, disclosed in July after months of evaluations, is notable not only for its dimension but in addition for its location in rural Kentucky atop the previous web site of one of many largest coal mines in Appalachia. It is a large infrastructure challenge with an estimated price ticket of $1 billion, though Rivian’s precise monetary dedication is undisclosed. The corporate’s motivation to assist renewable power within the state is less complicated to see: Earlier this 12 months, Rivian mentioned it deliberate to construct a remanufacturing web site in Bullitt County, probably creating 218 jobs. 

Rivian would be the largest company buyer for the primary section of the brand new photo voltaic challenge, scheduled to be switched on in 2027. That tranche can have a capability of 210 megawatts, however the Starfire Renewable Vitality Heart will finally add 810 megawatts of electrical energy to the native grid. That’s sufficient to energy 170,000 households yearly, and it will be the most important renewable challenge to this point for Kentucky. The farm would require a 20-mile-long transmission line that connects to the regional electrical grid.

The ability buy settlement was motivated by Rivian’s aim of working with net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. The EV firm is investing in each photo voltaic and wind tasks to achieve that concentrate on. It additionally needs so as to add low-carbon electrical energy to native grids which might be at the moment nonetheless dominated by fossil-fuel sources.

Rivian isn’t simply involved with its personal operations; its executives need to guarantee EV house owners have entry to renewable energy that can be utilized to cost Rivian’s vehicles and vehicles as they journey. To that finish, Rivian beforehand signed contracts with a photo voltaic plant in Tennessee and a wind farm in Illinois. This newest challenge ought to be capable of energy as much as 450 million miles of “renewable driving” yearly, Rivian mentioned.

“It’s crucial that we work to transition the grid and the system as a complete, in order that prospects which might be charging from the grid are ready to make use of clear power,” mentioned Andrew Peterman, director of renewable power at Rivian.

Look past megawatts to guage offers

Rivian’s power patrons have a singular strategy for challenge choice that requires them to actively take into account standards that transcend an influence plant’s producing capability.

The corporate developed this strategy in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy. It printed an in depth dialogue of the ideas in a case research about its procurement course of so different corporations can borrow them.

These are the primary concerns:

• Local weather: The important thing metric Rivian makes use of is an influence plant’s “emissionality,” a reference to the discount in carbon achieved by any new challenge. Constructing in locations with a decrease penetration of renewables can improve the affect of a challenge, Peterman mentioned. Emissionality “will not be a binary idea; reasonably, it could fluctuate relying on the particular circumstances of a challenge and the character of the assist offered,” the corporate mentioned in its case research. “For instance, growing the capability or effectivity of an current challenge could also be a less expensive path to cut back emissions than supporting the event of a brand new challenge.”
• Conservation: Rivian encourages power patrons to think about whether or not an set up will negatively drive habitat conversion. In Virginia, for instance, photo voltaic farms have been the largest reason behind deforestation since 2016. Higher as an alternative to hunt landfills, industrial brownfields or mines such because the Starfire web site, Peterman mentioned. “Leaving this floor at relaxation is crucial as we introduce floor cowl,” added Ron Kiecana, chief growth officer of renewable energy producer BrightNight, referring to the restoration plan for Starfire. “This will likely be a really inexperienced enchancment over the present rocky panorama.” BrightNight will assemble the Starfire facility.  
• Group: Vitality patrons at Rivian additionally have a look at job creation, financial alternatives, public well being and the “power justice” advantages of recent tasks. In its case research, Rivian suggests formalizing long-term obligations to native residents via contracts equivalent to Group Advantages Agreements. For the Starfire web site, for instance, BrightNight is contemplating methods to supply companies equivalent to inexpensive photo voltaic entry to the Olive Department Group, an adjoining housing growth being constructed for Japanese Kentucky residents after the devastating floods in 2022. 

The info gathered for these classes is mixed by Rivian to provide you with an total rating for challenge assessments. “It’s essential to consider these tasks from a complete worth perspective; don’t cut back it to a megawatt-hour determination,” Peterman mentioned.

Tasks that combine all these parts from an early stage tended to attain higher within the analysis, Rivian mentioned within the case research. Pricing for the renewable power certificates related to these tasks — that are used for carbon accounting — “was solely considerably correlated” with the general scores, the corporate reported, though higher-priced choices tended to “seize the very best vary for challenge scores throughout local weather, conservation and group metrics.”