Geotechnical challenges in mine land repurposing with a focus on pump storage

Overview

Modern mine closure includes public safety, land stability, mitigation of chemical impacts, and environmental reclamation and emissions control. Socioeconomic development of former coal mine lands is a key driver in regional transitions from “dirty” energy production to clean and sustainable land use. The transition to green energy requires the ability of energy storage in different forms.

Pump storage is considered one of the best medium- and long-term energy storage that can be combined with renewable energy production such as photovoltaic parks and wind miles to create a stable system. Combining mine land repurposing with renewable energy production and storage is becoming very popular among mine operators, government and local stakeholders because it addresses costly mine reclamation of brown fields and environmentally friendly development. 

Repurposing former coal mine lands towards clean energy production and storage is a novel and noble endeavour with a large environmental benefit but comes with significant technical challenges. A proper mine reclamation project needs to start way before a mine is due to close and needs to address many challenging geotechnical, hydrological, topographical and pollution problems.

This presentation will provide some insight on the way such land reclamation should be planned, what are the drivers and barriers that such former mine lands present and in particular what are the geotechnical challenges when considering the development of a new pump storage project in such lands.

What type of geotechnical investigation and assessment is needed, what are the main geotechnical conditions that need to be addressed and how they affect pump storage projects?