Why Rivian is Funding a Groundbreaking $1 Billion Solar Initiative built on a Kentucky coal mine

Image: Rivian will be the largest corporate customer for the first phase of the Starfire Renewable Energy Center in Kentucky, scheduled to be switched on in 2027. Source: Rivian/Ian Ward

Rivian, the Californian electric truck and SUV manufacturer, just signed its largest contract yet to buy renewable energy to work toward its net-zero emissions commitment.

Located in the bucolic landscapes of rural Kentucky, the deal is monumental not just in its sheer size—a staggering 100MW—but also in its geographical context. Imagine this: a solar farm sprouting where once lay one of Appalachia's most expansive coal mines. The project's budget? A cool $1 billion. While Rivian's exact financial stake remains in mystery, their rationale for choosing Kentucky as the project's home is crystal clear. Earlier this year, the company announced plans for a remanufacturing hub in Bullitt County, which could be a job-creating machine for 218 new positions.

Fast forward to 2027, and this solar endeavor, known as the Starfire Renewable Energy Center, will flicker to life. Rivian is slated to be the alpha customer for the project's initial phase, boasting a 210MW capacity. But hold your horses; that's just the tip of the iceberg. Eventually, Starfire aims to pump an additional 810MW into Kentucky's electrical grid, enough juice to power a jaw-dropping 170,000 homes annually. And let's not forget the 20-mile transmission line that will serve as the project's arterial link to the regional grid.

But why stop at solar? Rivian's ambitions are as boundless as the sky, with plans to invest in wind energy projects. The company's overarching mission is to saturate local grids—still predominantly fossil-fuel-driven—with low-carbon electricity by 2040.

And it's not just about Rivian. The company's top brass are hell-bent on ensuring Rivian vehicle owners have ample access to renewable energy sources for charging. Rivian has already penned agreements with a Tennessee solar facility and an Illinois wind farm to that end. According to the company, the Kentucky project alone could fuel up to 450 million miles of "renewable driving" each year.

Andrew Peterman, Rivian's Director of Renewable Energy, put it succinctly: "Transitioning the entire system is imperative. We want our customers to charge their vehicles with clean, renewable energy."

A New Paradigm for Energy Procurement

Rivian's approach to selecting energy projects is as unique as it is comprehensive and developed in partnership with The Nature Conservancy. The company's criteria extend far beyond mere generating capacity.

1. Climate Impact: Rivian employs a nuanced metric called "emissionality," which gauges the carbon-reducing impact of each project. The company argues that emotionality is not a one-size-fits-all concept but varies depending on the project's unique circumstances.

2. Conservation: The company urges energy buyers to ponder the environmental repercussions of their installations. For instance, Rivian advocates using landfills or industrial brownfields over areas that could destroy habitat.

3. Community Engagement: Rivian also factors in socio-economic elements like job creation, public health, and "energy justice." They even suggest formalizing commitments to local communities through instruments like Community Benefits Agreements.

For the Starfire project, the development team is exploring avenues to offer affordable solar access to the Olive Branch Community, a nearby housing development conceived for Eastern Kentucky residents impacted by the devastating floods of 2022.

The data gathered for these categories is combined by Rivian to develop an overall score for project assessments. "You need to think of these projects from a total value perspective; do not reduce it to a megawatt-hour decision," Peterman said.

Projects integrating all these elements from an early stage tended to score better in the evaluation, Rivian said in the case study. The company reported that pricing for the renewable energy certificates associated with these projects - which are used for carbon accounting - "was only somewhat correlated" with the overall scores. However, higher-priced options tended to "capture the highest range for project scores across climate, conservation, and community metrics."