Solar energy in Southwestern Virginia is expected to increase, now that the utility that serves the region, Appalachian Power, may be lifting long held
Southwestern Virginia has a long history of coal mining, but its energy future is a work in progress. A pilot project is underway to transform former coal
Robbie Harris reports
Former coal mines within the Cumberland Forest Project nearly 253,000 acres of land managed by The Nature Conservancy in Southwest Virginia, Eastern Tennessee, and Eastern Kentucky could be the site of the first utility-scale solar systems built in the Central Appalachian coalfields
Credit The Nature Conservency
The Nature Conservancy has been acquiring land to build the solar installations in the Cumberland Forest, a quarter million acres comprising parts of Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. The goal is to prove it’s possible to build solar arrays on land once mined for coal. But the bottom line for the Conservancy is these projects are to benefit people in the region without harming the forest.
That pluck has landed his Charlottesville company the opportunity to be the first to generate large-scale renewable power on the coalfields of Central Appalachia. If the bold venture announced this week comes to fruition, roughly 550 acres of deforested minelands sprinkled across an expansive Nature Conservancy preserve will generate up to 75 megawatts of solar energy within two to three years.
“If it were easy, everybody would be doing it,” Van Clief said about plunging into untested territory. “I’m thrilled … to play a small part in the energy transition in Southwest Virginia. This is a breakout moment for the region. There’s been a lot of talk about this but not as much action.”
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Dominion Energy first-quarter 2021 earnings conference call. [Operator instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Steven Ridge, vice president, investor relations.
Steven Ridge
Vice President, Investor Relations
Thank you, David, and thanks to everyone for joining today s call. Earnings materials, including today s prepared remarks, may contain forward-looking statements and estimates that are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Please refer to our SEC filings, including our most recent annual reports on Form 10-K and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for a discussion of factors that may cause results to differ from management s estimates and expectations. This morning, we ll discuss some measures of our company s performance that differ from those recognized by GAAP.