Integration of Renewable Energy Development with Post-Mining Land Recovery

Converging photovoltaic energy systems with coal mining subsidence areas offers an innovative strategy for addressing land degradation while advancing energy sector transformation. Regions affected by mining subsidence—marked by surface depression and waterlogging from resource extraction—hold both underutilized land and significant potential for renewable energy development. By deploying photovoltaic technology in these areas, stakeholders can simultaneously enhance land productivity and facilitate the transition of resource-dependent economies toward sustainable energy systems. Against the backdrop of global energy constraints and carbon reduction commitments, research on photovoltaic siting has expanded into unconventional environments, including abandoned mining zones, which now rank as priority locations due to their extensive area coverage and pressing remediation requirements.

Mining subsidence occurs when extraction of subterranean resources causes geological displacement and surface collapse. Remediation approaches encompass engineering interventions such as subsurface filling and structural reinforcement, as well as ecological restoration measures including vegetation recovery and land reconditioning. Photovoltaic installations within these zones deliver dual advantages: enhanced land utilization efficiency and accelerated renewable energy adoption. Furthermore, photovoltaic projects can be strategically combined with soil conservation and ecological restoration initiatives, creating synergistic benefits. International precedents from the United States, Poland, and Saudi Arabia have demonstrated the viability of this integration model, reducing ecological restoration expenses while generating revenue through energy production and facilitating industrial green transformation.

Contemporary Implementation Models

China’s mining-affected regions contain substantial land requiring regeneration, aligning closely with national renewable energy expansion objectives. Photovoltaic projects in these contexts extend beyond panel installation to incorporate shade-tolerant agricultural cultivation and moisture management for soil stabilization, establishing a comprehensive “photovoltaic-ecological restoration” framework. Regional environmental variations have prompted diverse implementation methodologies. Floating photovoltaic systems represent a particularly promising innovation, exemplified by the facility constructed on coalfield reservoir surfaces in Huainan, Anhui Province—reportedly the world’s largest floating installation. This approach optimizes water surface utilization while supporting sustainable aquaculture transitions, balancing energy development with ecological economic benefits.

Challenges in Site Selection and Implementation

Establishing photovoltaic facilities in mining subsidence zones requires evaluation of multiple dimensions—including geological conditions, financial implications, operational risks, and land restoration objectives—presenting complexity far exceeding conventional projects. China’s extensive abandoned mining land aligns with renewable energy strategies, yet implementation necessitates simultaneous consideration of ecological restoration and spatial optimization. Significant climate variation and diverse construction methodologies intensify decision-making complexity. The fundamental tension centers on land resource competition and geological compatibility: while floating installations reduce infrastructure and maintenance expenditures by utilizing subsidence-created water bodies, persistent geological instability threatens long-term safety, requiring equilibrium between sunlight efficiency, economic viability, and hazard mitigation.

Current photovoltaic site selection research predominantly emphasizes economic metrics while neglecting environmental stability and sociopolitical considerations. Moreover, existing approaches struggle to analyze multidimensional causal relationships among competing criteria. Site selection in mining subsidence areas involves interconnected geographic, technological, and policy dimensions, necessitating comprehensive analytical tools for quantifying critical factors and resolving competing interests. Establishing rigorous decision frameworks that integrate expert judgment with empirical data can minimize subjective bias while optimizing renewable energy implementation pathways, thereby furnishing essential support for land regeneration and sectoral transformation.

Methodological Framework and Regional Context

This investigation employs an advanced fuzzy DEMATEL-ISM methodology to systematically identify and characterize interactions among influencing factors. The DEMATEL approach constructs influence matrices to determine factor importance, causality, and centrality, while ISM provides hierarchical decomposition revealing layered relationships among variables. Integration with triangular fuzzy numbers reduces subjectivity in expert assessments while maintaining experiential knowledge.

Shanxi Province serves as the analytical focus, representing China’s primary energy production base with mining activities affecting over 40 percent of its 156,700 square kilometers. The province exhibits substantial photovoltaic development potential, with annual solar radiation ranging from 4,770 to 5,500 MJ/m², supporting theoretical annual generation of 562,000 GWh across suitable development zones. Since 2000, active government monitoring and ecological restoration initiatives have created favorable conditions for integrated “photovoltaic-ecological management” models. The provincial “Dual Carbon” strategy and 2021–2025 Mineral Resources Plan emphasize synchronized control of subsidence and emissions through coordinated coal and renewable energy development, establishing both resource availability and policy support for this application.

Research Implementation and Findings

Through systematic literature review and expert consultation employing the Delphi methodology, twenty critical factors were identified across climatic, geological, economic, social, and policy dimensions. Expert questionnaires quantified factor relationships using triangular fuzzy conversion, with subsequent DEMATEL analysis calculating influence degree, affected degree, centrality, and causality. ISM stratification decomposed factors into four hierarchical levels: outcome factors including land use and grid infrastructure; transitional factors encompassing climate and subsidence indicators; driving factors including solar radiation and dust frequency; and fundamental factors such as sunlight clarity.

Analysis reveals that economic constraints—levelized energy cost, payback period, maintenance expenses—constitute primary outcome factors, while climate and geological risks operate upstream as root drivers. Climatic adversity, manifested through dust accumulation and extreme weather, intensifies operational costs and extends payback periods, while policy subsidies moderate economic barriers. Regional differentiation in geological stability, climate patterns, and infrastructure development necessitates tailored site selection strategies, with northern regions prioritizing weather resistance, eastern areas emphasizing ground stabilization, and southern zones capitalizing on favorable radiation and infrastructure conditions.

Solar Panels Where the Ground Sank: Shanxi Researchers Map a New Future for Coal-Scarred Land

Researchers investigating Shanxi Province’s vast coal mining subsidence zones have concluded that installing photovoltaic arrays atop the sunken terrain can both reclaim damaged land and boost China’s renewable-energy output, according to peer-reviewed and industry reports released over the past year. The team’s analysis, published on 16 December 2025 in Scientific Reports, outlines how and why the subsidence areas—created by decades of underground resource extraction—can be transformed into profitable solar farms with measurable ecological benefits.

Less than a decade after Shanxi began an aggressive push to repair landscapes marred by mining, the new findings give provincial officials, energy developers, and local communities a roadmap for repurposing thousands of hectares that currently have limited economic value. By ranking climatic, geological, economic, and policy factors that determine the success of PV projects, the research offers a data-driven template for site selection and investment decisions across the coal heartland and beyond.

Shanxi produces roughly one-quarter of China’s coal and also contains some of the country’s highest surface subsidence rates—an estimated 40 percent of the province’s 156,700 km² shows varying degrees of deformation. Heavy extraction has left hollows that fill with water, unstable ground that hinders farming and construction, and a legacy of ecological degradation. Converting these zones into solar parks addresses two national priorities at once: stabilizing the land and accelerating progress toward Beijing’s “dual-carbon” goals of peaking emissions before 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality by 2060.

A 2025 study in Scientific Reports describes the strategy as a “strategic pathway to improving land use efficiency and restoring ecological balance,” emphasizing that PV installations can deliver energy revenues while acting as a catalyst for vegetation regrowth and soil remediation Scientific Reports. Complementing that peer-reviewed work, a technical brief circulated through the mining sector highlights how careful siting in Shanxi’s subsidence districts can optimize solar output and reduce project risk by weighting local climate, policy incentives, and grid availability AZoMining.

The new research builds on earlier pilot projects—most notably the floating PV facility in Huainan, Anhui Province—yet it is the first to systematically rank the dozens of variables that ultimately determine whether a subsidence-land solar venture will succeed. Using a hybrid fuzzy DEMATEL-ISM framework, the Shanxi team translated expert opinion into quantitative influence scores, revealing a four-tier hierarchy that places economic metrics such as levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) at the top, with climate and geological stability serving as root drivers.

Methodology and Core Findings

Investigators began by canvassing scientific literature and interviewing engineers, regulators, and academics to identify 20 candidate factors relevant to subsidence-land PV deployment. Triangular fuzzy numbers converted subjective judgments—such as how much dust storms hamper panel efficiency—into comparative scales. DEMATEL analysis then mapped the causal web: factors with high “influence degree” push changes elsewhere in the system, while “affected degree” variables absorb external shocks.

Climatic adversity emerged as a pivotal upstream force. High particulate loads in northern Shanxi, coupled with seasonal hail and snowfall, can slash annual energy yields and inflate cleaning costs. Geological conditions ranked alongside weather: ground that continues to sink or crack jeopardizes racking systems and grid infrastructure. Downstream, those risks feed into economic calculations, extending payback periods and discouraging investors unless offset by subsidies or premium feed-in tariffs.

Policy proved to be a potent moderating variable. Shanxi’s 2021–2025 Mineral Resources Plan explicitly encourages renewable deployment in post-mining zones, and Beijing’s national tender scheme offers guaranteed prices for solar electricity exported from brownfield sites. According to the AZoMining report, aligning a project with those incentives can improve internal rate of return by several percentage points, enough to tip marginal projects into profitability.

Regional Differentiation

The hierarchy of factors varies across the province’s three main sub-regions:

• Northern Shanxi experiences the harshest winters and frequent dust events. Developers here must prioritize module durability and advanced cleaning technology.

• The central-eastern coal belt, including Taiyuan and Yangquan, faces ongoing ground movement. Reinforced foundations or floating arrays on water-logged pits reduce structural stress.

• Southern districts enjoy higher solar radiation and better grid connectivity, making them prime candidates for utility-scale plants once land-use permissions are secured.

Such spatial nuance is critical given the competition for land. While subsidence depressions appear underutilized, many support informal aquaculture or serve as emergency flood basins. The researchers argue that a transparent scoring system—weighting ecological, economic, and social criteria—can mediate conflicts and improve public acceptance.

Dual Benefits: Energy and Ecology

Beyond kilowatts and profit margins, PV installations can play an active role in healing the landscape. Panels shield soil from direct rainfall, reducing erosion, while the partial shade lowers evaporation, creating micro-climates favorable for certain grasses and legumes. In water-filled craters, floating arrays block sunlight that promotes algal blooms, improving water quality for fish farming. The Scientific Reports article projects that, at scale, this approach could cut ecological restoration costs by up to 30 percent compared with standalone soil-stabilization projects, although exact savings depend on local labor and material prices.

Financial Models and Risk Mitigation

Despite the upside, the research warns that subsidence projects are significantly more complex than conventional ground-mount PV. Developers must factor in:

• Uncertain ground stability, requiring geotechnical surveys and flexible mounting systems.

• Elevated insurance premiums reflecting the unique structural risks.

• Higher operations and maintenance outlays, particularly for panel cleaning in dusty basins.

Offsetting these costs are policy instruments such as green bonds, carbon credits, and special-purpose subsidies tied to land remediation. The Scientific Reports team recommends bundling PV ventures with ecological restoration budgets, effectively turning a liability—the legal obligation to rehabilitate mining land—into a revenue-generating asset.

Global Context

Similar experiments are underway in the United States, Poland, and Saudi Arabia, but China’s scale sets it apart. By some estimates, the country has more than 13,000 km² of mining-impacted land—roughly the size of Montenegro. If even a quarter were outfitted with 200 W/m² panels, the resulting capacity would exceed 650 GW, dwarfing any single national solar programme in operation today. Shanxi’s analysis thus offers a template that could be replicated across Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and other coal-rich provinces.

Comparison with Floating PV on Reservoirs

Floating solar arrays on hydropower and industrial reservoirs have garnered attention for their high capacity factors and minimal land requirements. Yet the subsidence model may hold an advantage in infrastructure costs: excavated pits are often adjacent to existing transmission corridors built for coal mines, whereas water-based projects frequently require longer grid tie-ins. Furthermore, subsidence-land PV sidesteps evaporation-related stresses on module backsheets and electrical components that have affected some floating farms.

Future Research Needs

While the fuzzy DEMATEL-ISM approach clarifies priorities, the authors acknowledge several knowledge gaps. Long-term settlement of reclaimed ground could introduce micro-cracks in module frames over 20-plus years, a timescale for which empirical data remain scarce. Additionally, integrating agro-photovoltaic practices such as mushroom cultivation under panels requires agronomic trials tailored to Shanxi’s semi-arid soils.

Policy Implications

For regulators, the chief takeaway is that permitting and subsidy frameworks must remain agile. The same dust storm that reduces energy yield might raise the value of renewable-energy certificates if fossil output is simultaneously curtailed by poor visibility at open-pit mines. Dynamic tariffs and performance-linked grants can smooth revenue volatility and maintain investor confidence.

For mine operators facing stringent rehabilitation deadlines, partnering with solar developers offers a compliance shortcut. Transferring land-management rights to an energy consortium not only removes a capital burden but also embeds advanced monitoring—drones, SCADA systems, remote sensing—that can detect ground movement early, reducing liability.

Conclusion

The convergence of solar technology and coal-mining legacies is no longer theoretical. Shanxi’s systematic analysis, reinforced by peer-reviewed and industry sources, demonstrates that underground scars can become surface assets if climate, geology, economics, and policy are weighed in an integrated framework. As China steers toward its carbon-neutral horizon, the province’s subsidence-land PV roadmap may illuminate a broader route for deploying clean energy on damaged ground worldwide.

Sources

• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-26672-z
• https://www.azomining.com/News.aspx?newsID=18545