West Virginia solar project to pair lithium BESS with zinc long-duration energy storage

A large solar and battery project is coming to Kanawha County, West Virginia, built on a reclaimed coal mine. The company MN8 Energy is developing an 86-megawatt solar farm paired with two kinds of energy storage: 280 megawatt-hours of lithium-ion batteries (the type used in most home battery systems) and 100 megawatt-hours of a newer zinc-based battery from a company called Eos. The zinc batteries can discharge power for 10 hours straight, which helps stretch solar power into more hours of the day, even after the sun goes down. It's the first large-scale, long-duration battery project in the state.

The power is meant for the regional grid that serves Google's data centers, and Google is buying the energy and its clean-power credits. The solar portion is expected to start operating in 2028, with the lithium batteries following in 2029 and the zinc storage in 2030.

This is not a program homeowners can sign up for, but it is a sign of where battery technology is heading. Long-duration zinc storage is still new and mostly aimed at utility-scale projects like this one, not home systems, though the same manufacturers sometimes bring proven technology down to smaller scales over time. For now, the practical impact for area residents is more local: MN8 estimates up to $350 million in construction investment, about 200 construction jobs, and roughly $4 million in property tax revenue for the county and schools over the project's first 20 years.