Solmar Insights
Construction has begun on a large-scale 1.2-GW solar project at a coal mining site between Dallas and Houston, Texas. Known as Big Rooter Power, the development is backed by $1.7 billion in financing from Panamint Capital and will tie into the grid alongside the existing 310-MW Twin Oaks coal plant near Bremond, Texas. The facility will ultimately integrate thermal, renewable, storage, and data center capacity across a shared site.
Key figures
1.2 GW solar capacity under construction
$1.7 billion project cost
310 MW existing coal at Twin Oaks
1.6 GWh storage and 790 MW data center development
Project location and scope
The Big Rooter Power project is sited on a former coal mining site roughly halfway between Dallas and Houston, leveraging established electricity infrastructure in the region. The two solar phases, Big Rooter West (491 MW) and Big Rooter East (658 MW), are set to be completed in August 2028 and August 2029, respectively, following phased construction schedules. The site is adjacent to the Twin Oaks coal facility, which continues to operate with 310 MW of thermal capacity.
The combined activities at the 10,000-acre footprint include not only the solar facilities but also significant expansion in energy storage and digital infrastructure, reflecting the region’s shift toward hybridized energy campuses. By co-locating renewable and existing thermal assets, the development intends to secure reliability and resource diversity in a grid-constrained area of Texas.
These moves reflect wider ERCOT trends where legacy coal and gas plants are increasingly paired with renewable resources and storage to offset congestion, manage variability, and maximize interconnection investments. The focus on redevelopment of coal mining sites also addresses land use and transition of skilled labor.
Financing and construction partners
Panamint Capital is the sole financier of the $1.7 billion Big Rooter build, signaling continued institutional investor appetite for large-scale renewable deployments in Texas. EPC duties are being handled by SOLV Energy, which will deploy First Solar panels and Nextpower single-axis tracking systems. The phased approach staggers capital deployment and workforce ramp-up, allowing parallel development of new transmission and battery assets.
The construction process is expected to generate over 800 construction jobs at peak, creating a substantial impact on the local workforce and leveraging expertise from coal legacy operations. Panamint’s public statements emphasize their intent to extract more value from legacy energy sites by stacking technologies and use cases, from generation to compute workloads.
While no new offtake deals were disclosed, the breadth of stakeholders and assets at the Twin Oaks complex signals a strong focus on optimizing asset returns over time and layering data center and digital infrastructure siting with the energy buildout. This approach is becoming more standard as more power-intensive industries look to site close to generation sources.
Hybrid campus strategy
The Big Rooter Power plan stands out for its integration of conventional and renewable resources without decommissioning the existing coal unit. When fully operational, the campus will comprise 1.5 GW of installed generation capacity from both thermal and solar sources, augmented by 1.6 GWh of battery energy storage and 790 MW of to-be-built “Batch Zero” data center infrastructure. Over 20 miles of new 345 kV transmission lines are planned to link these assets to the broader Texas grid.
This hybrid configuration is designed to enhance grid reliability, enabling the site to provide both round-the-clock baseload and flexible peaking or balancing capacity via storage and fast-responding solar. The presence of data center development points to direct on-site consumption, potentially reducing curtailment risk for solar generation and creating vertically integrated value streams for Panamint and its partners.
Panamint’s strategy is to ensure sustained “energy dominance”, leveraging scale to provide flexible, resilient, and redundant power supplies required by hyperscale data and compute buyers, while also maintaining the revenue profile associated with baseload coal output. The company’s communications underscore a belief that blended campuses provide a model for future US energy platforms.
Grid integration and transmission
Unlike many utility-scale solar deployments that replace retiring fossil capacity, the Big Rooter project will operate alongside the Twin Oaks coal plant, connecting into upgraded infrastructure that includes the addition of over 20 miles of 345 kV high voltage transmission. This layout is designed to provide the necessary export capacity for both renewable and conventional output, reducing bottlenecks and opening new offtake options for grid operators and direct-connect data center tenants.
Integrating new solar and battery storage with ongoing coal operations exemplifies ERCOT’s embrace of diverse generation types to help address the state’s periods of high load and system stress. The multi-service campus model also offers grid planners additional flexibility in resource scheduling and reliability event response, which are becoming more critical as renewable penetration increases.
While the Twin Oaks coal plant will continue running, the hybrid approach may evolve as market and policy signals shift, providing optionality for future flexibility, phased coal unit retirements, or deeper grid participation by on-site loads such as data centers and batteries responding to scarcity pricing or ancillary services demands.
Market context and investment outlook
This project’s scale, integration plan, and multi-use development approach fit a growing pattern of investments into hybrid energy campuses in Texas and other deregulated US power markets. By combining renewables, storage, and compute within a single project perimeter, developers like Panamint are positioning themselves to capitalize on rising demand from AI, hyperscale data, and digital infrastructure operators seeking long-term, low-carbon power contracts.
The use of a former coal mining site further aligns with macro trends in land and asset repurposing. It meets investor and policy interests in responsible transition, especially as more capital seeks alignment with ESG and grid resilience goals. Developers and buyers alike are watching closely to assess the operational, financial, and regulatory advantages of multi-asset projects compared with single-technology deployments.
For institutional investors, the Big Rooter campus represents a blend of proven generation assets with new merchant and capacity products including storage and data center leasing revenues. The modular development plan, solar, storage, transmission, and digital infrastructure, enables risk to be managed in phases as each tranche comes online and as Texas power demand evolves in the late 2020s.
What this means for buyers
The Big Rooter Power project signals a shift toward hybridization of legacy thermal assets with large-scale renewables and digital infrastructure, particularly in deregulated markets like ERCOT. Buyers should track campus-style projects for potential bundled power, storage, and data center solutions, especially as Texas grid constraints continue. The 1.2-GW solar addition, complemented by on-site battery and new transmission, could offer attractive long-term offtake and hosting options for institutional and hyperscale consumers. Where coal units remain active, flexibility in contracting and grid services may grow alongside steady energy output and direct data center load integration.
