Historically, central Utah\u2019s Castle Valley has been a coal hub, with mining operations<\/a> on the slopes of the Wasatch Plateau to the west active since the late 1800s. A different energy development arrived in the region in June 2026, when a large solar power and battery storage plant came online in the sunny valley<\/a> about 130 miles (210 kilometers) southeast of Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n The recently constructed Green River Energy Center, seen in the Landsat 8<\/a> image above (right), features nearly one million solar panels<\/a> and roughly 500 batteries on several square miles of previously undeveloped land. The facility has 400 megawatts of solar-generating capacity with another 400 megawatts of battery storage. That places it among the many utility-scale solar power and battery storage projects that the U.S. Energy Information Administration<\/a> expects to be plugged into the country\u2019s grid in 2026.<\/p>\n The Utah facility is slated to supply power to Salt Lake City and other areas across the state, according to news reports<\/a>, and project staff estimate it could produce enough electricity for more than 100,000 homes. With its integrated battery storage, the plant has the potential to generate power at all hours, even when the Sun isn\u2019t shining. And the Green River Energy Center can build on Castle Valley\u2019s energy legacy by utilizing existing transmission lines<\/a> originally built for coal-fired power plants in the area.<\/p>\n Though Utah adopted coal as its state rock and has long relied on it for energy, other sources, such as solar and geothermal, are becoming larger parts of the state\u2019s energy mix. In 2025, coal fueled about half of the state\u2019s electricity generation<\/a>, down from about 75 percent in 2015. Meanwhile, solar grew to account for about 14 percent of generation in 2025, up from nearly zero a decade before. Satellite data<\/a> can be useful to planners and policymakers involved in energy transitions for assessing the potential of renewable energy systems and tracking their adoption and performance.<\/p>\n NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the\u00a0U.S. Geological Survey<\/a>.\u00a0Story by Lindsey Doermann.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/assets.science.nasa.gov\/dynamicimage\/assets\/science\/esd\/eo\/images\/iotd\/2026\/a-million-panel-project\/solarutah_oli_20240616_lrg.jpg?w=3680&h=3250&fit=clip&crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n![\"Grid-like](\"https:\/\/assets.science.nasa.gov\/dynamicimage\/assets\/science\/esd\/eo\/images\/iotd\/2026\/a-million-panel-project\/solarutah_oli_20260606_lrg.jpg?w=3680&h=3250&fit=clip&crop=faces%2Cfocalpoint\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n