Nevada-based Panamint Capital announced Thursday it broke ground on Big Rooter Power, a 1.2-gigawatt solar project in Robertson County that the company says will become the largest solar development built on an existing coal mining site in North America.
Construction is already underway on the project’s first phase, Big Rooter West, a roughly 491-megawatt facility expected to begin operating in August 2028. A second phase, Big Rooter East, is expected to start construction in December 2026 and go into commercial operations by August 2029, according to the company.
When complete, the development is expected to create more than 800 construction jobs and anchor a larger energy complex that Panamint says will combine thermal power, solar generation, battery storage and data center infrastructure.
“Big Rooter Power represents our vision for getting more out of America’s energy infrastructure and ensuring America’s energy dominance,” Panamint Capital CEO Apolka Totth said in a statement.
The announcement comes just days after the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) set a new all-time electricity demand record as triple-digit temperatures pushed air-conditioning use across the state to unprecedented levels. The Houston Chronicle reported solar generated roughly one-third of ERCOT’s electricity during the peak demand period, helping the grid operate under normal conditions despite record consumption.
Panamint said the project will be built using roughly 2 million domestically manufactured solar panels and more than 34,000 tons of U.S.-made steel. The company said the first phase alone is expected to contribute more than $66 million to the local economy over its lifetime.