{"id":13011,"date":"2017-07-10T06:27:51","date_gmt":"2017-07-09T19:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=13011"},"modified":"2017-07-10T08:42:16","modified_gmt":"2017-07-09T22:12:16","slug":"coal-mine-water-solar-mb0116","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/coal-mine-water-solar-mb0116\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar Power Helps Clean Up Coal Mining’s Mess In The UK"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Solar

Coal’s legacy – more than emissions | Image: Coal Authority<\/p><\/div>\n

Solar electricity isn’t just preventing new damage from burning coal, it’s also helping to deal with the legacy left from abandoned coal mining operations in the UK.<\/p>\n

During the course of mining, water seeping into or collecting in a mine is pumped out. Once it is abandoned and the pumps switched off, this water can accumulate. Iron within the rocks mixes with the water and as this comes to the surface and is exposed to air, a reaction takes place making the water acidic.<\/p>\n

Even in coalfields with high levels of limestone that counterbalance the acidity, the small particles of iron precipitate as ochre, which can pollute waterways. Water from these mines can also have high levels of other toxins and dissolved salts, with chloride concentrations around double that of sea water.<\/p>\n

Its’ not a small problem – the drinking water of tens of thousands of people is threatened by the issue.<\/p>\n

75 Troublesome Mine Sites<\/h2>\n

Prior to late 1999, metal and coal mine operators in the UK could just walk away from a mine without addressing the ongoing threat of contamination to waterways and aquifers. That responsibility has fallen to the Coal Authority and the Environment Agency, which has been saddled with the task of\u00a0 staying on top of the issue at more than 75 sites.<\/p>\n

While passive approaches to treatment such as phytoremediation (using plants including reeds) in wetlands are favoured, Active treatment involving pumping and chemicals are used as a short-term solution or when the substantial area required for passive schemes isn’t available.<\/p>\n

Pumping and treating the polluted water and other remedial action<\/a> has been an energy intensive and expensive task – it’s a \u00a32.8 billion long-term mining legacy.<\/p>\n

Solar – Cost-Effective And Efficient<\/h2>\n

Early last year, 192 solar panels were installed on the roof of the main building at the Dawdon treatment scheme<\/a> as a trial, with the electricity being used to reduce expenses associated with pumping mine water on site. The trial was a success, with the Coal Authority determining solar power was a cost-effective and efficient strategy.<\/p>\n

\"Coal

Dawdon Treatment Scheme – Coal Authority UK<\/p><\/div>\n

A tender process to roll out solar across all 75 sites was then announced and work is nearing completion on the first round, with a second release of sites about to have PV arrays installed. Among the successful companies in the tender bid was HBS New Energies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis large-scale solar PV programme is a clear sign of the authority\u2019s future intentions as they look to increase their on-site renewable energy generation,” said HBS’s Business Development Director, Stuart Gentry. “The deployment of solar power will help the Coal Authority to meet its aim of off-setting the costs of managing water treatment on site, whilst enhancing their sustainable operations.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Solar power can’t always contribute a solution to the damage caused by coal mining, but it can help address it in other ways. For example, we recently mentioned a 40MW floating solar farm<\/a> has been constructed in China on what would otherwise be an area rendered useless by coal mining activities.<\/p>\n

Coal – A Long History And No Future<\/h2>\n

Coal mining in the United Kingdom<\/a> goes back to Roman times and peaked in 1913.<\/p>\n

While the legacy of old coal mines will haunt the Coal Authority (and taxpayers) for years to come – thankfully there shouldn’t be any new ones to deal with. This isn’t just due to tighter environmental regulations, but also because deep pit coal mining ended in the UK in 2015.<\/p>\n

In another sign of the times, Britain went a full day without using coal power to generate electricity in April this year – the\u00a0 first time this has happened since the Industrial Revolution. Britain’s last coal power plant is scheduled to close by 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Solar energy<\/a> is making great progress in generating electricity that coal once did. Recent statistics<\/a> indicate 916,800 solar installations are in place across the UK, collectively representing 12.3GW of renewable energy capacity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Solar electricity isn’t just preventing new damage from burning coal, it’s also helping to deal with the legacy left from abandoned coal mining operations in the UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":13013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[678],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solar-battery-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSolar Power Helps Clean Up Coal Mining's Mess In The UK - SolarQuotes Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Solar electricity is helping to deal with a legacy left from abandoned coal mining operations in the UK that threatens water supplies.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/coal-mine-water-solar-mb0116\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Solar Power Helps Clean Up Coal Mining's Mess In The UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Solar electricity is helping to deal with a legacy left from abandoned coal mining operations in the UK that threatens water supplies.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/coal-mine-water-solar-mb0116\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SolarQuotes Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-09T19:57:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-07-09T22:12:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/coal-water-pollution-solar.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"467\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Bloch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/coal-mine-water-solar-mb0116\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/coal-mine-water-solar-mb0116\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Bloch\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/66afd571aa00c2e442f0192ebac2f6f1\"},\"headline\":\"Solar Power Helps Clean Up Coal Mining’s Mess In The UK\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-09T19:57:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-09T22:12:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/coal-mine-water-solar-mb0116\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":693,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/coal-mine-water-solar-mb0116\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/coal-water-pollution-solar.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"General Solar & Storage News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/coal-mine-water-solar-mb0116\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/coal-mine-water-solar-mb0116\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.solarquotes.com.au\\\/blog\\\/coal-mine-water-solar-mb0116\\\/\",\"name\":\"Solar Power Helps Clean Up Coal Mining's Mess In The UK - 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Prior to 1999, coal mine operators could just walk away from a mine once they were finished with it, without\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Solar & Storage News"","block_context":{"text":"General Solar & Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Solar powered mobile dosing trailer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/solar-dosing-trailer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/solar-dosing-trailer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/solar-dosing-trailer.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/solar-dosing-trailer.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/solar-dosing-trailer.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11723,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/floating-solar-power-project-mb0045\/","url_meta":{"origin":13011,"position":1},"title":"World’s Largest Floating Solar Farm Connected To The Grid","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"May 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A 40MW floating solar farm, constructed on what would otherwise be a \"useless\" area due to the impacts of coal mining, has been connected to the mains electricity grid in Huainan, China. According to the World Bank, Huainan has a coal mining history dating back to 1903.\u00a0 Ongoing coal mining\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Solar & Storage News"","block_context":{"text":"General Solar & Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Floating solar farm","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/floating-solar-china.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/floating-solar-china.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/floating-solar-china.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20280,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/time2choose-march-sydney-mb0519\/","url_meta":{"origin":13011,"position":2},"title":"10,000 March In Sydney To Demand A Clean Energy Future","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"March 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Thousands marched on NSW Parliament and through the streets of Sydney on Saturday to put all politicians on notice that it\u2019s time to choose clean energy over coal. The #Time2Choose action was coordinated by groups including 350 Australia, The Wilderness Society, Nature Conservation Council and Lock The Gate. \"NSW is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Solar & Storage News"","block_context":{"text":"General Solar & Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Time2Choose rally, Sydney, New South Wales","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/time2choose-rally-march.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/time2choose-rally-march.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/time2choose-rally-march.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/time2choose-rally-march.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":57267,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/coal-vs-solar-mining\/","url_meta":{"origin":13011,"position":3},"title":"Coal Uses 100x More Mined Material Than Solar Per kWh Generated","author":"Ronald Brakels","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On Christmas Eve, on Twitter, DaveMySpace asked this question: Finn promised DaveMySpace an answer. After two weeks of research, this post is my best answer. As DaveMySpace has realised, solar panels require resources.\u00a0 Silicon and metals need to be mined and refined. Energy must be expended.\u00a0 Some people get very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Solar and the Environment"","block_context":{"text":"Solar and the Environment","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-and-the-environment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Solar vs. coal - mining materials","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mining-truck.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mining-truck.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mining-truck.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mining-truck.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mining-truck.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30865,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/isaac-floating-solar-mb1082\/","url_meta":{"origin":13011,"position":4},"title":"Isaac Regional Council Considering Floating PV","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"June 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Queensland's Isaac Regional Council has given the green light for investigating the potential of using floating solar power system installations on its water assets. Isaac Region is located in Central Queensland. A good chunk of it sits on top of the Bowen Basin, which contains the largest coal reserves in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Solar & Storage News"","block_context":{"text":"General Solar & Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"floating solar power system","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/floating-solar-isaac.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/floating-solar-isaac.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/floating-solar-isaac.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/floating-solar-isaac.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/floating-solar-isaac.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35007,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/nab-renewables-coal-mb1294\/","url_meta":{"origin":13011,"position":5},"title":"NAB Coal, Renewable Energy Commitments Criticised\u00a0","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"November 18, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"National Australia Bank's latest Sustainability Report indicates a greater focus on renewable energy and less on coal. But some of its commitments have drawn criticism from both sides of the climate change debate. Among the commitments mentioned in Sustainability Report 2019: Boosting NAB's environmental financing from $55bn to $70bn by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Solar & Storage News"","block_context":{"text":"General Solar & Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"NAB - coal and renewables","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/nab-coal-renewables.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/nab-coal-renewables.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/nab-coal-renewables.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/nab-coal-renewables.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/nab-coal-renewables.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13011"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13022,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13011\/revisions\/13022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}