Solar in Virginia

 Last week the Potomac Watershed Roundtable met virtually. The speaker was Aaron Berryhill who is the Solar Programs Manager at Virginia Energy (the renamed Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy) to reflect the refocus on clean energy and economic development after the recent passing of the Virginia Clean Economy Act that looks achieve 100% clean energy in Virginia by 2050. The Act plans for 16,100 MW of solar and onshore wind power generation by 2050.

Solar energy in Virginia and the nation as a whole is anticipated to grow exponentially in the next decades in response to the carbon reduction policies and laws passing in various states and on a Federal level. The UVA Weldon Cooper Center is partnering with Virginia Energy on the Virginia Solar Initiative. Most solar growth in Virginia has been since 2016  utility scale (>5 MW). Residential and commercial  solar (< 25KW) has been growing slowly as can be seen in the graph below. 

In 2020 renewable resources generated less than 7% of Virginia's electricity, so we’ve got a ways to go.  Virginia does not have any wind-powered utility-scale electricity generation, yet.  Virginia does have some solar power. Although solar PV electrical generation is less than 1%, it is growing rapidly as seen below. The largest share of solar PV generation in Virginia is provided by utility-scale facilities built in the last several years. So we will look at those.

The utility scale solar facilities or "solar farms" as they are more commonly known, require 8-10 acres of land per MW. Since development of utility scale solar began in Virginia about 58% of the land used has been forested land the remainder was agricultural. If Virginia continues on in this fashion between 129,000 and 161,000 acres of forest could be destroyed to achieve our clean energy goals. This will have very broad impacts on local ecologies and the ecoservice provided by the forested land. Solar panels are designed to absorb as much heat as possible (solar energy) will they impact temperature creating heat islands. A solar farm has hard surface coverage over much of the land and can change the hydrology if the water resources and groundwater recharge are not part of the planning process.

When you convert agricultural field to a solar farm, land that would be open for stormwater infiltration and see minimal disturbance until planting is converted to a site that requires year-round accessibility by machines and workers during construction and operation The key issues are the amount of hard surface and change in water infiltration and the amount of stormwater and sediment runoff and subsequent impact on surface waters.

Development of utility scale projects has many steps and challenges. Often one of the two major utilities are partnered with the developer to make it happen and guide the project through the steps.

Beyond permitting, there are local challenges, from siting to storm water management. Virginia Energy estimates that the capacity of existing transmission lines will be tapped out in this decade. Virginia Energy and UVA have jointly launched a Virginia SolSmart no-cost technical advisor program with support from The Solar Foundation to bring solar-specific resources and technical assistance to localities across Virginia to help their work towards the goals of the Virginia Clean Economy Act. 

Below are the regional projects that are in various stages of development. 

There is a tremendous amount of work and investment that needs to take place to meet the goals of the Virginia Clean Economy Act. Virginia Energy has resources that could help us along the way.