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HAPPY FRIDAY
September 6, 2024
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Welcome to Energy Right’s weekly roundup! This week our team went to seven different counties
learning and sharing on how to best bring
Clean Energy the Right Way.
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SCOTT COUNTY STEPS AHEAD WITH SOLAR ORDIANCE
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Scott County, Board of Supervisors
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This week, Energy Right’s Southwest Virginia Community Outreach Representative, Ben Wilson, collaborated with Scott County community leadership in deliberations for approving a solar ordinance. The ordinance was unanimously approved, marking an important step toward establishing a strong foundation for future solar development discussions. Having a balance between community concerns, development, and regulation is essential, and we are proud to have helped alongside the efforts of county staff, commissioners, and supervisors of Scott County in achieving that balance.
Like many communities across the Commonwealth and the country, Scott County has voiced concerns about solar and renewable energy project development. Questions such as “What will this do to the land?” and “How will it impact my community?” are central to these discussions. The ordinance passed on September 4th provides a much-needed framework to address these concerns as new projects are evaluated.
Thanks to the diligent efforts in drafting this ordinance, local leadership can now better engage with community members, address project-specific concerns, and approve solar initiatives that will benefit Scott County. This collaborative approach ensures that future solar developments are carefully considered and with the community’s best interests in mind.
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Resilience in Energy Grids:
Lessons from Winter Storm Uri
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In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri led to widespread power outages across Texas, prompting some to blame renewable energy sources like wind and solar for the crisis. Abbott’s remarks suggested that clean energy was somehow responsible for the blackouts. However, as detailed in a Yale Environment 360 article, investigations revealed that the outages affected all types of energy sources, not just renewables. The main contributing factors to the grid failure was a lack of winterization and
preparation across the board, as natural gas, coal, and wind facilities all faced significant challenges.
The findings showed that energy reliability is less about the type of energy used and more about how well facilities are prepared for severe weather. Texas’s power grid faced significant issues due to insufficient winterization of equipment, a problem affecting both traditional and renewable energy sources. This situation highlights the need for improved infrastructure and better preparedness to handle extreme weather events, rather than attributing the failures to any single type of energy.
For Virginia, this presents a clear opportunity to enhance our energy strategy. By investing in comprehensive winterization of our energy infrastructure and exploring advanced grid technologies, Virginia can better prepare for extreme weather events. Expanding energy storage solutions and strengthening our interconnections with neighboring states will further ensure a resilient and reliable power grid. Embracing these proactive measures will not only safeguard against future outages but also support a balanced and forward-thinking energy approach that aligns with both economic and environmental goals.
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This week, our team travelled to:
Brunswick, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Scott, Sussex, Fluvanna, and Wise counties.
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Beautiful landscapes like this are what many concerned community members want to preserve
when weighing in on land-based projects. With the right vision and planning, solar farms can be done in a delicate manner that help blend with the surroundings.
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Amherst County Board of Supervisors votes yes to new solar farm
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A new 5-megawatt solar farm is coming to Amherst County, VA on an 89-acre plot along Ebenezer Road, with only 43 acres being used for the actual project, leaving the remaining land untouched. During the Board of Supervisors hearing on August 20, no one was in opposition. The energy produced will supply areas from Ohio to Tennessee.
The project adheres to the county’s updated code, which limits solar sites to under 50 acres, a successful revision that has led the community to feel more comfortable with these solar initiatives developing. New Leaf is implementing a 150-foot vegetation buffer to block visibility and a 50-foot buffer for the 2.5 acres of wetlands.
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NEXT WEEK
We’ll be going to Brunswick, Fluvanna, Nottoway, Prince Edward, Roanoke, Rockbridge, and Suffolk counties.
Have a great weekend!
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“Jobs in the U.S. clean energy industry in 2023 grew at more than double the rate of the
country’s overall jobs, and unionization in clean energy surpassed for the first time the rate in the wider energy industry, the Energy Department said on Wednesday.
Employment in clean energy businesses – including wind, solar, nuclear and battery storage – rose by 142,000 jobs, or 4.2% last year, up from a rise of 3.9% in 2022, the U.S. Energy and Employment Report said. The rate was above the overall U.S. job growth rate of 2% in 2023. Overall energy jobs rose 250,000, with 56% being in clean energy.”
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