The sun is finally shining on the energy portfolio of Appalachian Power Co., which for years has relied predominantly on coal and natural gas.
In announcing its first utility-scale solar project to go online, Appalachian said Thursday that in August it began purchasing 20 megawatts of electricity — enough to power about 3,600 homes — from a solar farm in Henry County.
Two other power-purchase agreements with facilities nearing completion in Campbell and Wythe counties will add another 35 megawatts of solar to the generating capacity of Appalachian, which has about 524,000 customers in Western Virginia.
“Solar is a big part of our overall clean energy strategy,” Chris Beam, Appalachian’s president and chief operating officer, said in an announcement.
However, Appalachian currently gets about 80% of its electricity from coal- and natural gas-fired power plants, which it is being forced to replace with renewable energy by a state-mandated effort to ease climate change.
“It’s certainly better late than never,” Will Cleveland, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said of the transition.
“We commend Appalachian for moving forward with its plans to add clean energy to its portfolio.”
Until recently, the utility’s only solar energy in Virginia came from panels on the rooftops and property of about 2,000 customers who chose to install them at their own expense. While cutting into individual electricity bills substantially, the panels’ total output was too small to register as a percentage of Appalachian’s power portfolio.
Read More:Appalachian Power announces first solar energy project is in service | Local News
2021-10-28 22:05:00
