For Adam Edelen, the driving factor behind Edelen Renewables is not just promoting renewable energy. It’s also offering workers in the fossil fuel industry a means to thrive in the new energy economy.
Adam Edelen
On the surface, Edelen Renewables brings solar energy arrays to abandoned mine lands in coal country. But within that, Edelen said, is a way to provide jobs of the 21st century to the men and women who powered the country with their labor in the 20th century.
“We believe we can leverage the opportunity of a greener economy to provide jobs for those in the coal industry,” he said.
From 2012-16, Edelen served as the auditor of public accounts for Kentucky, where he was seen as a modernizer. During his tenure, he uncovered nearly $3 billion in fraud and abuse in special taxing districts across the state. Before that, he served as the chief of staff for Gov. Steve Beshear, resigning in 2010 to run his own company. In 2019, he ran for governor with running mate Gill Holland.
Now, Edelen works as founder and CEO of Edelen Renewables, alongside Nathan Cryder, the company’s chief operating o.cer who served as senior advisor and policy director for Edelen during his tenure as state auditor. Cryder has also founded or co-founded several companies, including Breakout, the world’s largest entertainment escape room company. Headquartered in Lexington, the company employs more than 1,000 people at 45 locations in America and South Africa.
This year, Edelen Renewables’ first project, a solar farm installed atop an abandoned coal mine in Martin County, Kentucky, will break ground. It’s the first of nearly 20 projects in 11 states introducing what Edelen terms “social impact solar” to “abandoned places” like coal mines and brownfields.
Edelen Renewables is set to break ground on its first project, a solar farm installed atop an abandoned coal mine in Martin County. It’s the first of nearly 20 planned projects in 11 states.
The Martin County project represents years of work and a more than $230 million capital investment that will employ hundreds of out-of-work miners. Training the miners to install the solar panels on more than 1,200 acres above the Martiki mine will provide them with $25 to $30 an hour jobs and give them the skills they need to enter the renewable energy industry of the future, Edelen said.
Upon completion, the project will generate enough energy to power more than 33,000 homes, with a capacity of up to 200 megawatts. While the facility itself is expected to last an estimated 30 years, most of its jobs are expected to last mainly during the construction period of 12 to 18 months, with a total payroll of about $17.2 million, Edelen said. Hiring for those jobs is expected to begin in May.
The company is working with local labor organizations, community colleges and others to ensure a trained workforce is ready to build the incoming solar fields and move forward in the solar industry once the plant is finished, Edelen said.
On sites where solar fields aren’t a viable option, the project will focus on reforestation. The goal, Edelen said, is carbon neutrality, while helping communities to reimagine themselves in the green economy. The company is working to “drive true social impact,” he said, on those communities facing hardships in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Edelen said the result is improved legacy economies for landowners that increase carbon neutralization, enhance wildlife habitat and improve water quality.
The company said the current pipeline of projects represents more than 3 gigawatts of solar energy, plus storage and more than $3 billion in capital investments. For reference, a gigawatt is equivalent to 1 billion watts. A typical light bulb uses 60 to 100 watts.
That has generated some buzz around the Lexington-based company. In January, it was featured on the front page of the New York Times, as well as being featured on CNET, SkyTV, Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal and CNN. The company was also featured in the documentary “The Human Element,” which focuses on climate change and the complex relationship between humans and nature.
In areas like Appalachia, where the Martiki mine is located, Edelen Renewables isn’t the only solution, Edelen said, but, rather, part of a larger puzzle in helping bring rural areas into the new economy.
“It would be a big mistake if we went for one industry to replace the coal industry, but we can be a key ingredient in the transformation of that economy,” he said. “These coal miners deserve not to be left behind. They spent their lives powering the industrial development of America for a century. We owe something to them. This is a way to bring the opportunities of the green economy to the coalfields.”
Edelen recognizes that the Martin County project probably wouldn’t have happened if coal jobs had rebounded to their previous levels. With those jobs disappearing, workers in the area are desperate for employment opportunities and ways to provide jobs and futures for their children.
And the new green economy isn’t going away anytime soon, he said. Driven by socially minded millennials, the clean energy economy is primarily pushed by younger adults who make purchasing decisions based on the sustainability goals of the companies they buy from.
“We’ve been able to weaponize capitalism to affect climate change,” he said. “People recognize the economy is shifting. Everything has changed … and it’s not going away.”