1 30 Business models for post-mining, revitalisation, mine water, green hydrogen, circular economy 1. INTRODUCTION The closure of coal mines creates both legacy burdens and, simultaneously, a portfolio of assets that can be repurposed for regional revitalisation (Frejowski, Bondaruk, & Duda, 2021; Siksnelyte-Butkiene et al., 2020). In coal regions in transition, redevelopment options are expected to deliver more than environmental remediation: they must also create new economic activity, retain skills, and support decarbonisation trajectories that are credible to local stakeholders (Bairrão et al., 2023). The MINE-TO-H2 project in Asturias (Spain), conceptually presented in Figure 1, is positioned within this post-mining context by converting land adjacent to a coal mine into a 2.5 MW (scalable to 5 MW) green hydrogen plant that targets the decarbonisation of transport and other hard-to-abate uses, while integrating circular economy practices and the revitalisation of mining areas. Figure 1 – Scheme of the MINE-TO-H2 project The paper aims to contribute to post-mining areas revitalisation by presenting (i) the integrated technical concept (mine water → electrolysis → 500 bar distribution → mobility, with heat recovery to district heating and blending into the gas grid), (ii) an initial implementation status based on engineering and permitting progress, and (iii) a businessoriented discussion of replicability and enabling conditions in mine-closure settings in Poland.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM0Mzk2