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Happy Friday!
May 23, 2025
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The Energy Right team attended two fantastic events in SWVA recently, highlighting the ever-increasing shift the Commonwealth has seen when it comes to clean energy done right!
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SWVA Leads Conversation:
Energy & Economy
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UVA Wise Campus
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At this year’s 10th Annual Southwest Virginia Economic Forum, held at UVA Wise, one theme surfaced again and again: sustainable economic growth hinges on how we power it. From expanding tourism and remote tech jobs to attracting new manufacturing, every path forward depends on reliable, affordable, and future-ready energy. Alongside these goals, energy independence is something clearly needed that the state is currently building towards.
Virginia Department of Energy Director Glenn Davis cut to the core of the issue, challenging the usual “chicken or egg” debate about whether workforce or industry must come first. His point was clear: both are meaningless without energy. For communities in Southwest Virginia—and across the Commonwealth—to grow, they need new electrons: energy, whatever way it’s made. That means modernizing energy infrastructure and supporting a mix of solutions, including solar, battery storage, natural gas, and next-generation technologies like small modular reactors (SMRs).
It’s a message that resonates deeply in a region that once powered the East Coast. With the right investment in workforce development and energy innovation, Southwest Virginia can reclaim that leadership—this time through cleaner, more resilient technologies. The forum made it clear: energy isn’t just part of the conversation about our economic future. It is the conversation.
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Sheep of the Week
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A group of happy sheep take a midday nap beneath the shade of the solar panels after grazing the fields at the Crystal Hill Solar farm in Halifax County, VA.
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Follow Us
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Solar Summit Brings Local Voices & Regional Momentum Together
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This week, the Energy Right team joined a packed room of community members, energy professionals, and state leaders for the first-ever Southwest Virginia Solar Summit. Organized by the Solar Workgroup of Southwest Virginia, the event was a milestone in how the region is thinking about clean energy—as a tool for local resilience, economic development, and job creation.
Energy Right’s Ben Wilson moderated a panel that brought together experts working across the solar industry, from small-scale residential projects to large utility-scale deployments. The discussion tackled real-world issues: how rural landowners can benefit from solar, how communities are navigating policy and permitting, and what it takes to build trust in new energy projects. The audience heard directly from representatives at the Virginia Department of Energy, the Department of Environmental Quality, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers—all emphasizing the need for transparency and workforce readiness.
If it wasn’t clear before, it’s becoming more and more apparent that solar is no longer a distant possibility for Southwest Virginia—it’s an active conversation and component. As demand grows and the region seeks new ways to revitalize its economy, events like this summit will play a critical role in connecting the dots between energy, education, and opportunity.
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SWVA Solar Summit
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This week our team went to Brunswick, King George, Russell, Southampton, and Wise counties on our mission for clean energy The Right Way.
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Southwest Virginia Solar Summit
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Energy Right was at the SWVA Solar Summit this week participating with others in all topics solar—from the larger picture down to specifics, we know that informed people create informed communities, and it’s with that information people can make the best decisions. We’re always grateful for events like this that bring people together out of curiosity, interest, or community investment!
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Brighter future? Solar apprenticeships add renewable energy skills to local jobs
Lisa Rowan, Matt Busse – Cardinal News
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In the coalfields of far Southwest Virginia, young workers like Mason Taylor and Anthony Hamilton are helping to shape a clean energy future—without leaving home. Thanks to a hands-on apprenticeship led by Got Electric and Secure Solar Futures, students from Lee and Wise counties are gaining real job skills installing solar panels and earning college credit along the way. For Taylor, that training meant avoiding a two-hour daily commute and staying rooted in his rural community. For Hamilton, it meant discovering a career path he hadn’t imagined—with commercial solar experience now embedded in his day-to-day work as an electrician.
The program reflects a growing strategy across the region: linking solar development with local talent to strengthen both energy independence and economic opportunity. While utility-scale solar is less common in Southwest Virginia, residential and small commercial demand is rising—and the skills these apprentices gain will serve them well across sectors.
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NEXT WEEK
We’ll be traveling to Brunswick, Charlotte, Lunenburg, and Southampton counties next!
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A new shared solar facility has officially opened in Elkton, marking the first of 25 planned by Summit Ridge Energy across Virginia. Unlike traditional rooftop systems, shared solar allows residents to subscribe and receive energy bill credits without installing panels at home. Hosted on 23 acres of Scenic L Farms, landowner Leroy Heatwole says the project blends clean energy generation with continued agricultural use—providing power to the community while keeping the land productive.
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