Google is helping bring cutting-edge battery tech to an old West Virginia strip mine

For decades, a sprawling site in West Virginia was mined for coal, and part of the operation is still active. But on a 500-acre section abandoned 20 years ago, something new is taking shape: a clean-energy project pairing solar power with cutting-edge battery technology that could help renewables deliver electricity around the clock. The $350 million project, called Mammoth Solar, will sell energy to Google, which has a goal to get to 24/7 carbon-free energy on every grid where it operates. It’s the first development where the tech giant will rely on zinc batteries, an emerging long-duration technology that can store electricity for 10 hours. [Image: Mammoth Solar] It’s the next step in the evolution of renewable energy. A decade ago, most solar and wind projects didn’t include batteries at all, says Jon Yoder, president and CEO of MN8 Energy, which partnered with Google to build and operate the new plant. “There was no economically viable way to store that power when the sun wasn’t shining or the wind wasn’t blowing,” he says. A few years later, lithium-ion batteries became viable for short-term storage. They work well for storing electricity for about four hours, helping cover t…