Virginia Governor Wants Nearly 300K Acres of Old Dominion Under Solar Panels
Virginia’s far-left Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger plans to pave her state with almost 300,000 acres of solar panels to feed the voracious energy appetite of data centers.
The idea is contained in the energy plan she released last week.
The problem: As WJLA reported, the plan will consume an area the size of two counties and one city.
The Plan
Buried deep in the eye-glazing 157-page report is language that should terrify those concerned about the environment.
“According to reports from Virginia Farm Bureau and the Virginia Department of Forestry, Virginia has 7.3 million acres of farmland and as of 2018 Virginia had 16 million acres of forestland,” page 100 says:
Historical solar deployment has been on a mix of forest and farmland, with 50% of utility scale solar to date being developed on forested land and 40% on farmland.
Page 101 elaborates on the scheme to cover almost 300,000 acres with hideous solar panels.
That comes under the table “Solar Land Use Results in Acres for New Solar Capacity Expansion Additions and System Costs Across Select Policy Cases in Moderate Load Growth Forecast.”
A “distributed flexibility scenario” measures the “solar land impact” in acres.
The plan envisions gobbling up 277,000 acres at a cost of $385 billion.
“Prioritizing solar and storage on brownfields, former mine lands, rooftops, parking canopies, and other previously disturbed or dual-use sites can reduce pressure on farmland and forestland while putting underused property back into productive use,” the plan says:
Virginia has substantial potential: estimates identify more than 100,000 acres of former mine land and additional brownfield sites that may be suitable for renewable-energy development, although suitability depends on site conditions, grid access, remediation needs, and local approval. These projects will often be smaller and more costly than greenfield development, so there is some tradeoff in total cost.
So even if the plan uses all 100,000 acres of the former mines and brownfield sites, 177,000 acres will still be required to place solar panels. Brownfield sites are on possibly contaminated land that is no longer used.
Published with permission of thenewamerian.com