Market changes in the Texas electric grid have forced the retirement of coal-fired generation in ERCOT. Low wholesale power prices, cheap and abundant natural gas, and increased renewable energy generation have made coal generation no longer profitable. This retirement of the coal-fired power plants in ERCOT and the closure of their adjacent mines abandon significant public investment in transmission infrastructure. Siting a new solar farm on former mine land could responsibly reuse the public

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... nvestment in existing power infrastructure while offering a range of additional benefits to the grid and to rural East Texas. This paper explores the viability of repurposing a portion of the Monticello Winfield Mine in East Texas to install a utility-scale solar photovoltaic plant. The viability of solar for this site was evaluated in two parts. The EPA RE-Powering America's Land Initiative Solar Photovoltaic Decision Tree was used as an initial screening tool to identify the appropriate site characteristics. The NREL System Advisor Model (SAM) used hourly weather data and financial metrics to demonstrate solar performance and project value across different sized installations. Results indicate that