Historically, Castle Valley in central Utah has been a coal center, with active mining operations on the slopes of the Wasatch Plateau to the west since the late 19th century. A different energy development came to the region in June 2026, when a large solar and battery storage plant came online in the sunny valley about 130 miles (210 kilometers) southeast of Salt Lake City.

The newly constructed Green River Energy Center, seen in the Landsat 8 image above (right), features nearly one million solar panels and approximately 500 batteries on several square miles of previously undeveloped land. The facility has 400 megawatts of solar generation capacity with another 400 megawatts of battery storage. That puts it among the many utility-scale solar and battery storage projects that the U.S. Energy Information Administration expects to be connected to the nation’s grid in 2026.

The Utah facility is planned to supply power to Salt Lake City and other areas of the state, according to news reports, and project staff estimate it could produce enough electricity for more than 100,000 homes. With its built-in battery storage, the plant has the potential to generate power around the clock, even when the sun isn’t shining. And the Green River Energy Center can tap into Castle Valley’s energy legacy using existing transmission lines originally built for coal-fired power plants in the area.

Although Utah adopted coal as its state rock and has long relied on it for energy, other sources, such as solar and geothermal, are becoming increasingly important parts of the state’s energy mix. In 2025, coal fueled about half of the state’s electricity generation, up from about 75 percent in 2015. Solar, meanwhile, grew to account for about 14 percent of generation in 2025, up from nearly zero a decade earlier. Satellite data can be useful for planners and policymakers involved in energy transitions to assess the potential of renewable energy systems and track their adoption and performance.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the US Geological Survey. Story by Lindsey Doermann.

• Deseret News (2026, June 23) Utah’s largest solar farm goes online. Accessed July 23, 2026.
• Edwards sir, et al. (2022) Satellite data applications for sustainable energy transitions. Frontiers in sustainability3, 910924.
• KUER (2026, June 23) Utah just connected a huge solar and battery farm in Emery County. Accessed July 23, 2026.
• NASA (2021) ARSET – NASA Earth Observations for Energy Management. Accessed July 23, 2026.
• U.S. Energy Information Administration (2026, February 20) New U.S. electric generating capacity expected to hit record high in 2026. Accessed July 23, 2026.
• U.S. Energy Information Administration, Utah. Accessed July 23, 2026.