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Tag: carbon free energy

World’s first commercial fusion power plant planned for Chesterfield

Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a Massachusetts-based fusion energy company, plans to build the world’s first grid-scale commercial fusion power plant in Chesterfield County, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday.

“It’s a nearly $3 billion capital investment, paying taxes, and it’s a bunch of really high-tech jobs,” Garrett Hart, Chesterfield’s director of economic development, said Tuesday.

“We really do not know exactly what it’s going to cost. It will be in excess of $2.5 billion, I’m certain,” Hart explained Wednesday. The total cost isn’t known since Commonwealth Fusion Solutions hasn’t built a fusion facility this big before and the steam generation power plant that it will connect to hasn’t been designed yet.

Dubbed ARC, the project is expected to be in operation in the early 2030s, according to CFS co-founder and CEO Bob Mumgaard. The project is designed to run for 20 years or more, Youngkin said Tuesday.  It will be located at the James River Industrial Center, a site owned by Dominion Energy, and is expected to create hundreds of temporary construction and permanent jobs. The permanent roles will include operators, electricians, pipe fitters, mechanics and technicians, Youngkin said.

Spun out of MIT in 2018, CFS is the biggest of more than 40 companies currently pursuing fusion technologies. It has raised more than $2 billion in capital from high-profile investors including Google, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Tiger Global, Khosla Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital.

“This will add to our existing infrastructure in a way that I think will provide a new frontier — a new frontier for Virginia businesses and Virginia residents,” Youngkin said Tuesday. “My friends, the future can be seen, and what Commonwealth Fusion Systems will be building will be that pathway to the future.”

According to the governor’s announcement, CFS “conducted a global search” for the site of its first commercial fusion power plant, which will produce about 400 megawatts of carbon-free electricity, enough to power large industrial projects or about 150,000 homes. The siting process took more than two years, Mumgaard said Tuesday.

Historically, fusion has been restricted to labs; the Chesterfield facility will mark the start of an entirely new power industry, he said.

“In the early 2030s, all eyes will be on the Richmond region, and more specifically Chesterfield County, as the birthplace of commercial fusion energy,” Mumgaard said in a statement. “Virginia emerged as a strong partner as they look to implement innovative solutions for both reliable electricity and clean forms of power. We are pleased to collaborate with Dominion Energy.”

Chesterfield County also will benefit from the publicity of being “the first locality in the world to start the fusion revolution,” Hart said. “There’s only one; there’ll only be one place. It’ll always be us, and 50 years from now, they’ll be like, ‘Yep, Chesterfield County’s where it all started.’”

The county is also considering forming an innovation hub-like structure for the area, but nothing is formalized, according to Chesterfield economic development officials.

Previously, Dominion said it planned to build a gas-powered power plant at the James River Industrial Center, but in August, it changed plans to move the Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center to the adjacent existing Chesterfield Power Station site on Coxendale Road.

According to a document from Chesterfield County, “Dominion owns the land and has agreed to lease it to CFS. And in a nonfinancial collaboration, Dominion will provide CFS with development and technical expertise, while CFS will provide Dominion insight about fusion power plant technology.” Dominion is not investing in the project and does not have an agreement to purchase power from the plant when operational, according to a corporate spokesperson.

“Commonwealth Fusion Systems is the clear industry leader in advancing the exciting energy potential of fusion,” said Dominion Energy Virginia President Edward H. Baine. “Our customers’ growing needs for reliable, carbon-free power benefits from as diverse a menu of power generation options as possible, and in that spirit, we are delighted to assist CFS in their efforts.”

The ARC plant will be independently financed, owned, built and operated by CFS. The company expects to sell ARC power to large industrial/commercial customers through purchase power agreements, according to a Chesterfield document, so Virginia residents and businesses won’t pay for the plant.

The company, which has secured $16.5 million in the U.S. Department of Energy grants, is completing its fusion demonstration machine, nicknamed SPARC, at its headquarters in Devens, Massachusetts, and it is expected to produce its first plasma in 2026 and net fusion energy shortly afterward, according to the governor’s news release. SPARC will require a series of 18 high-temperature superconductor magnets, which the company is developing.

The Virginia Department of Energy partnered with Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Chesterfield County and Dominion Energy to secure this project, and the Virginia Clean Energy Innovation Bank allocated a $1 million grant matched with local funds from Chesterfield County.

“On top of that, Chesterfield County has offered to provide $10 million of longer term support,” Youngkin told reporters, “and then the state has confirmed through the Department of Taxation that the equipment that goes inside the plant will be exempt from sales and use tax, just like the equipment in a data center or an indoor farm or other power plants, and that has resulted in [Commonwealth Fusion Solutions] being very comfortable moving into Virginia.

The 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act created a 2050 mandate for generating electricity statewide from renewable, carbon-free energy sources. In 2022, Youngkin announced a state energy plan that endorsed an “all-of-the-above” mix of energy sources, including hydrogen, natural gas and nuclear power, in addition to the wind, solar and battery storage supported by Virginia Democrats.

Dominion Energy’s $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is expected to be completed in 2026, and the utility called for more offshore wind and solar energy development, as well as small modular nuclear reactors, in a 2024 filing with the Virginia State Corporation Commission and the North Carolina Utilities Commission. In July, Dominion Energy officials announced they were issuing a request for proposals for an SMR at its North Anna nuclear power plant in Louisa County.

Amazon, Dominion agree to explore nuclear development

With power consumption by data centers and AI projected to more than quadruple in Virginia in the next 15 years, Amazon.com and Dominion Energy Virginia have entered into an agreement to explore potential development of small modular nuclear reactors at North Anna Power Station in Louisa County, the two companies announced during an Oct. 16 event at Amazon’s HQ2 East Coast headquarters in Arlington County.

Dominion and Amazon’s memorandum of understanding means the companies will “jointly explore innovative ways to advance SMR development and financing while also mitigating potential cost and development risks for customers and capital providers,” according to Dominion’s announcement.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin, U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner and Dominion Energy Virginia President Ed Baine were at the event, among other state and national dignitaries.

“Nuclear is a safe source of carbon-free energy that can help power our operations and meet the growing demands of our customers, while helping us progress toward our Climate Pledge commitment to be net-zero carbon across our operation by 2040,” Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman said in a statement.

Only two SMRs are in operation worldwide — one in Russia and the other in China — and Virginia likely won’t have its own SMR before the mid-2030s.

Over the past couple of years, SMRs have been a big part of Virginia’s energy conversation, especially as data center growth has put more demands on the state’s power grid. In a May earnings call, Dominion Energy CEO Bob Blue said that the utility is receiving more requests to power larger data center campuses with increased energy demands of 60 to 90 megawatts per building, or several gigawatts for multibuilding campuses.

“There are a number of things that are driving energy demand within Virginia,” Baine says. “Data centers [are] absolutely one of the big ones, but there’s also manufacturer electrification that is also increasing demand.”

Dominion announced in July that it had issued a request for proposals to evaluate the feasibility for a small nuclear reactor to be developed at its North Anna power plant, where it has two conventional, large nuclear reactors.

In October’s agreement, Amazon has agreed to explore the development of an SMR project near North Anna, bringing “at least 300 megawatts of power to the Virginia region, where Dominion projects that power demands will increase by 85% over the next 15 years.”  

Youngkin announces $8.1M in GO Virginia grants

A variety of projects around the state intended to spur economic and workforce development will get a boost from $8.1 million in state GO Virginia grants, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Friday.

The 17 projects are expected to add hundreds of jobs. Nearly $4.8 million will fund two Virginia Tech projects, including one  expected to build a talent pipeline for the emerging nanotechnology industry in Northern Virginia and another to transition to the production of green hydrogen in Hampton Roads.

Two other projects, totaling $150,000, will study the feasibility of developing multiple small modular nuclear reactor sites in Southwest Virginia, as well as the preparation of a supply chain report that will be used to identify businesses that can be retooled or recruited to provide manufacturing jobs to support those reactors. Youngkin has set a goal of developing a small modular reactor in Virginia within the next decade.

“GO Virginia allows us to invest in key projects that address regionally identified opportunities while fostering collaboration for economic growth between the private and public sectors,” Younkin said in a statement. “These projects exemplify the innovative partnerships that GO Virginia was designed to promote, and will advance Virginia’s position in critical industries such as life science and energy, as well as leverage emerging opportunities in semiconductor manufacturing.”

The largest award, $3.3 million, will go to the Virginia Nanotechnology Networked Infrastructure project in Northern Virginia. The project will connect higher education institutions with existing nanotechnology facilities across the state to a main hub at Virginia Tech by an advanced cloud-based system. The project will train 600 students, award 500 certificates and create 80 internships.

Other projects include funding for a Center for Entrepreneurship in Lynchburg; funding for pre-construction activities for a wet lab incubator and accelerator in Charlottesville; support for cybersecurity training in Caroline, King George and Stafford counties; and money to support a cybersecurity/data analytics/modeling and simulation cluster and an unmanned systems and aerospace cluster in Hampton Roads. A full list of the projects is available from the state Department of Housing and Community Development.

GO Virginia is a bipartisan, business-led state initiative to foster private-sector growth and job creation through state incentives for regional collaboration by business, education and government. A state GO Virginia board makes funding decisions and distributes Virginia Growth and Opportunity Fund monies to projects recommended by the nine regional GO Virginia councils.

Dominion proposes new solar, storage projects

Dominion Energy Virginia has proposed 23 new solar and energy storage projects that could power more than 200,000 Virginia homes at peak output.

The utility provider proposed the projects in its third annual clean energy filing with the Virginia State Corporation Commission on Friday. If approved, they will provide more than 800 megawatts of carbon-free electricity.

“These projects are another big step in delivering clean, affordable and reliable energy to our customers,” Dominion Energy Virginia President Ed Baine said in a statement. “The clean energy transition is bringing jobs and economic opportunity to communities across Virginia, and it’s reducing fuel costs for our customers. That’s a win-win for our customers and the communities we serve.”

The proposal has 10 solar and energy storage projects that total nearly 500 megawatts. Dominion Energy Virginia would own and operate the projects.

Dominion Energy also proposed power purchase agreements (PPAs) with 13 solar and energy storage projects owned by independent developers, totaling more than 300 megawatts.

The proposed utility-scale solar projects are:

  • Bridleton Solar, Henrico County, acquired from Vega Renewables LLC
  • Cerulean Solar, Richmond County, to be acquired from Strata Clean Energy
  • Courthouse Solar, Charlotte County, acquired from NOVI Energy
  • King’s Creek Solar, York County, acquired from KDC Solar Virginia
  • Moon Corner Solar, Richmond County, developed by Dominion Energy Virginia
  • North Ridge Solar, Powhatan County, acquired from North Ridge Powhatan Solar LLC
  • Southern Virginia Solar, Pittsylvania County, acquired from Strata Clean Energy

The two distributed solar projects are:

  • Ivy Landfill Solar, Albemarle County, to be acquired from Community Power Group
  • Racefield Solar, James City County, acquired from Hexagon

The last project is a utility-scale energy storage project in Sussex County, Shands Storage, which Dominion acquired from East Point Energy.

Dominion estimates that construction on the projects would support nearly 4,800 jobs and generate more than $920 million in economic benefits across the state. The projects are subject to SCC approval and would then require local and state permits before construction started. If approved, Dominion expects the projects to be finished between 2023 and 2025. The projects would add about $0.38 to the average residential customer’s monthly bill, according to the filing.

Dominion Energy Inc. is also preparing for infrastructure work of its $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farm project to begin in 2023. When complete, the project will have 176 turbines — each rising 800 feet above the ocean — 27 miles off the Virginia Beach coast. The company already has two pilot turbines in place.

Under the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act, Dominion must generate 100% of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2045. Dominion has also set a goal to reach net-zero carbon dioxide and methane emissions by 2050. Two of the projects — King’s Creek Solar and Ivy Solar — would be built on brownfield sites, which would help Dominion meet another of the act’s requirements: that at least 200 megawatts of solar be on brownfield sites.

Richmond-based electricity and natural gas provider Dominion Energy Inc. has about 7 million customers in 15 states. Its Virginia division has about 2.7 million customers in Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.

Youngkin promises biz-friendly climate for Va.

Talent, taxes and regulations, broadband access and energy are the top concerns for Virginia businesses, according to survey results gathered for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s Blueprint Virginia 2030, an action plan for strengthening Virginia’s economy. And those are also priorities for Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin, he said Friday in a speech during the Virginia Economic Summit & Forum on Trade in Richmond. 

“We … as Team Virginia have an opportunity to implement … our Day One game plan,” Youngkin said, “but also with the Blueprint Virginia 2023, we have a multiyear, if not multidecade, game for Virginia to win.

“When I read through the blueprint, I’m even more encouraged because I saw so many areas of overlap where all the conversations that I had getting ready to run for governor are backed up in the conversations that all of you had,” Youngkin told summit attendees.

Talent is the No. 1 concern of Virginia businesses, said Virginia Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Barry DuVal.

Workforce and education focus of plans

The majority of the 7,150 businesses, economic development and other stakeholders surveyed for Blueprint Virginia 2030 chose “workforce and education” as the area that would have the most impact on Virginia’s overall economic competitiveness. Only 40% of respondents agreed that “Virginia is doing a good job preparing the workforce that businesses need.”

“We should be thinking about a talent attraction campaign,” not only for worker retention, DuVal said, “but [also] bringing other people here to have more workers to fill those jobs we’re going to create.” 

The plurality (43%) of those surveyed said that if Virginia could make additional investments in education and workforce development programs, those investments should go toward internships, apprenticeships and other work-based learning programs. Twenty-two percent chose K-12 education.

Youngkin’s goal for workforce development is that every high school student will graduate either college-ready or career-ready, he said. The governor-elect plans to expand alternatives in the public school system, including offering career and technical education in all public schools.

“We need a statewide vision for building Virginia’s talent supply to ensure it aligns with the current and future needs of business,” Youngkin said, and to recognize regional advantages

Cybersecurity and information technology workers are one pressing need, DuVal said.

Partnerships between higher education programs and private industry are one way to ensure students graduate with necessary advanced degrees, Youngkin said. He will continue to support the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, a workforce initiative created by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and Virginia Community College System to provides customizable recruitment and training services at no cost to eligible companies that are expanding or locating within Virginia.

Virginia also needs people to fill vacant jobs, Youngkin said: “Jobs that sit unfilled don’t accomplish our goals” for economic growth.

Seventy percent of those surveyed agreed that “Virginia’s legal climate is a significant consideration in a business’s decision on whether to locate or expand here,” and 78% said they were concerned about an increasing burdensome regulatory landscape in Virginia.

The top answer for what the commonwealth could provide so that entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses can see more success was “a more appealing regulatory and tax structure.”

Said Youngkin: “My administration will in fact go to work slashing 25% of job-killing regulations.” The pace of permitting and licensing regulation needs to accelerate to match the pace of business, he added.

‘Comprehensive review’ of taxes wanted

The Chamber and Youngkin agree that Virginia has to address taxation to be competitive. The blueprint recommends that businesses work with the governor and General Assembly on a comprehensive review of the state’s tax system.

The state’s recently announced historic $2.6 billion surplus represents more taxation than state government needed, Youngkin said, meaning Virginians were overtaxed last year.

The state’s cost of living is driving people away, Youngkin said. He plans to double the state’s standard tax deduction, provide a one-time tax rebate, eliminate the grocery tax and suspend for one year the most recent increase in the gas tax.

“I strongly encourage Gov. Northam to include these provisions in his outgoing budget that he will introduce in two weeks” to the legislature, Youngkin said.

Investment in infrastructure

Every region except Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia responded that broadband was their top concentration for infrastructure investment, DuVal said.

Youngkin reiterated that he’s committed to investing in high-speed, affordable broadband access statewide, a point he made on the campaign trail this year. 

Affordability and decreasing carbon emissions tied for the most responses in Hampton Roads when it came to energy, DuVal said. Northern Virginia’s top priority for energy was also decreasing carbon emissions, the key driver of climate change. The rest of the state was split between energy reliability and affordability.

Youngkin will take an “all of the above” approach to energy, he said, pursuing wind and solar, as well as “clean-burning fossil fuels” and nuclear energy.

“I think we have an exceptional opportunity to … distinguish ourselves in our capability to do nuclear power,” Youngkin said. “Sometimes I feel that we forgot that nuclear power is a [carbon-free] energy.”

Natural gas is part of ensuring reliable energy, he said. Columbia Gas Transmission’s Virginia Reliability Project to replace 48 miles of its existing natural gas pipeline system in Hampton Roads is vital, especially to Virginia’s offshore wind opportunities, he added.

The blueprint’s other areas of focus are health care and life sciences; innovation and technology; advanced manufacturing; housing; corporate sustainability and the environment; military and veteran affairs; and safety, preparedness and resiliency.

Energy

 

EDWARD H. ‘ED’ BAINE

PRESIDENT, DOMINION ENERGY VIRGINIA, RICHMOND

Baine is an example of the American dream made real. He grew up poor, working on his family’s tobacco farm in Lunenburg County, where, he says, he learned the value of hard work, dedication and responsibility. He subsequently applied that lesson during his more than 25-year-long career at Dominion Energy.

Last year, he became the first Black president of Dominion Energy Virginia, a promotion from his previous position as senior vice president of power delivery. A Virginia Tech graduate, Baine is a member of the university’s board of visitors and also the Southeastern Electric Exchange board, on which he serves as first vice president. He has received the Metropolitan Business League’s Oliver Singleton Humanitarian Award and received an Influential Black Alumni Award during Virginia Tech’s 2018 Black Alumni Reunion.

In an interview with Virginia Tech magazine last year, Baine said he gravitated toward Dominion because it was a stable company, but he stayed because it gave him a sense of purpose. “I wake up every day knowing that we provide an essential service to our customers and that they are depending on us.”

 

 

Blue

ROBERT M. ‘BOB’ BLUE

CHAIR, PRESIDENT AND CEO, DOMINION ENERGY INC., RICHMOND

Blue became president and CEO of Dominion in October 2020 after Chairman, President and CEO Thomas F. Farrell II transitioned to the role of executive chair for the Richmond-based Fortune 500 utility. In April, Blue also took up the chairmanship of Dominion’s board after Farrell, a business titan known for his involvement in state and local politics, died at age 66 from cancer.

Blue, who joined Dominion in 2005, is known for his unconventional commuting choice — a kayak that he paddles to Dominion’s riverfront headquarters. He took the utility’s helm at a time when Virginia’s state government has mandated that Dominion and other utilities must generate all electricity from carbon-free sources by 2045. Among Dominion’s strategies for reaching that goal is the $7.8 billion offshore wind farm it’s developing 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach.

A native of Albemarle County, Blue graduated from the University of Virginia and Yale Law School and holds a master’s degree from U.Va.’s Darden School of Business. He previously served as legal counsel and policy director for Gov. Mark Warner and was also a partner at Washington, D.C., law firm Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells).

 

 

Feuerberg

STAN C. FEUERBERG

PRESIDENT AND CEO, NORTHERN VIRGINIA ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, MANASSAS

Feuerberg leads one of the largest electric cooperatives in the country. The nonprofit Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative has almost $1 billion in assets and serves about 175,000 customers in six counties and two municipalities, including Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties.

He has headed NOVEC for almost 30 years and has driven its divestment in coal in favor of natural gas and renewable energy sources, including a biomass power plant and multiple solar installations. Feuerberg also leads the board that oversees NOVEC’s subsidiaries. During the pandemic, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln engineering and law graduate says, the cooperative responded to community needs, such as meal deliveries for health care workers and first responders.

The co-op also has focused attention to extend fiber connectivity in its coverage area, providing broadband access to 1,000 homes in northern Loudoun, which has struggled with poor internet coverage, despite Ashburn’s prominence as the “Internet Alley” through which 70% of the world’s internet traffic is routed.

“The need for high-quality, high-speed broadband has never been more in demand,” Feuerberg says.

 

 

Gluski

ANDRÉS R. GLUSKI

PRESIDENT AND CEO, AES CORP., ARLINGTON

Under his decadelong leadership of AES, Gluski has decreased the company’s dependence on coal, which once represented 60% of its portfolio, as it moves rapidly toward providing affordable, sustainable energy to the 14 countries it serves.

The Venezuela native sees huge potential in energy storage and believes it will bring reliability to the green energy movement. He called it “the holy grail of renewables” in an interview with trade magazine Utility Dive. “If you ask me what the greatest challenges are, say, in the next decade, it’s really having enough supply of everything. This means land, this means people, this means batteries for energy storage, this means wind turbines, and this means solar panels,” he said.

Gluski’s reorganization of the Fortune 500 company has led to $250 million in annual savings while adding more than 5,000 megawatts of capacity. AES ended the first quarter of 2021 with revenues of $2.635 billion, a 12.7% increase from the previous year.

The Edison Electric Institute has honored Gluski with five International Edison awards. The University of Virginia alum earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from the school, and he previously served as Venezuela’s director general of public finance. He also chairs the Council of the Americas board.

 

 

Hewa

JOHN D. HEWA

PRESIDENT AND CEO, RAPPAHANNOCK ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, FREDERICKSBURG

Hewa took over at the Rappahannock Electric Cooperative last year, three years after he joined REC as vice president and chief operating officer, following two decades in electric power.

A graduate of the University of Tennessee and George Washington University, Hewa recently served as chair of the nonprofit U.S. Energy Storage Association, and he’s currently a board member of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

REC has 170,000 connections made through 17,000 miles of line in 22 counties stretching from the northern Shenandoah Valley to the Middle Peninsula. “Our goal is to be always on,” Hewa says, but he faced a challenge to that ideal this winter when ice storms led to 20,000-plus outages in his far-flung service area.

Hewa is also a champion of smart-grid technologies, and one of his focuses is on closing the rural digital divide. Under his leadership, REC has been installing a “fiber backbone network” to support broadband rollouts and point-to-point service, aligning with the Northam administration’s goal to deliver broadband access to the entire state by 2023.

 

 

Leopold

DIANE LEOPOLD

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, DOMINION ENERGY INC., RICHMOND

Leopold always has been a trailblazer. One of only two women in her University of Sussex graduating class in England, she became the first female power station engineer at Pepco in 1989, in part, she says, because of her willingness to scale a 500-foot smokestack.

Since joining Dominion in 1995, Leopold has continued to climb to new heights in an industry that is heavily male dominated. Last year, she took on her current role, which, among other duties, includes oversight of Dominion Energy Virginia, which provides electricity to 2.7 million customers in Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, and of Dominion Energy South Carolina, which serves 1.1 million customers.

Last year, Leopold, who holds business and engineering degrees from George Washington University and Virginia Commonwealth University, was named chair of the American Gas Association. She is also a trustee of Virginia Union University and serves on the board of the GO Virginia Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the state economic development initiative.

Leopold is not one to sit still either at work or in her off hours. She has logged more than 450 skydiving jumps, rappelled down a 20-story building for charity and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.

(Solar) powering the economy

A 700-acre solar farm on a former surface mine outside of Hurley will be more than it appears, according to Adam Edelen.

“Buchanan County and the entire region of Southwestern Virginia intends to benefit from the digital economy rather than be a victim of it,” says Edelen, CEO of Edelen Renewables.

Based in Lexington, Kentucky, Edelen’s company has partnered with Savion, a Kansas City-based solar developer involved in 156 projects in 28 states, including five in Virginia, but this is Edelen’s first collaboration with Savion in the commonwealth.

With groundbreaking set for 2023, the $100 million, 75-megawatt solar farm will generate about $100,000 in annual tax revenue for Buchanan County, create about six permanent jobs and 250 construction jobs. Edelen says there will be a “heavy focus on hiring local.” He plans for workers to finish the yearlong job with “an academic credential that will certify them as utility-scale solar installers.”

The largest anticipated economic impact is the business the solar farm might attract.

“Access to green energy is a precondition for modern economic development,” Edelen says. “To be relevant to the opportunities of the digital economy, you have to have clean energy.”

Jonathan Belcher, executive director of the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, agrees. “That’s clearly where the national and global economy, [the] energy economy, is headed.”

In this case, the new energy economy will be sharing space with the old.

“They will actually be installing solar panels while they’re still mining coal,” says Del. Will Morefield, R-Tazewell, whom Kentucky-based CM Mining asked to help arrange the project. The company also plans to put several thousand mined acres in a conservation easement. Morefield calls it “one of the country’s first mining operations that is not only mining coal, but they’re making efforts to reduce the carbon footprint.”

Surface mines and solar farms have considerable overlap in infrastructure: high-capacity transmission lines; access to roads and rail lines; and flat land, according to Edelen. Surface mines require the first two and create the third.

Government support helps, too.

“Virginia has done a better job than almost any state in the entire United States in envisioning a renewable energy future,” Edelen says. That support runs from the county to the General Assembly and across party lines, he says. “Green energy isn’t partisan. It’s just smart.” ν

AES to provide carbon-free power for Google’s Loudoun data centers

As part of Google LLC’s ambitious “moonshot” to produce all of its energy from carbon-free sources, Arlington-based The AES Corp. announced Tuesday that it has signed a 10-year agreement to provide carbon-free power for Google’s data centers in Loudoun County.

A Fortune 500 international electrical utility, AES will provide 90% of the Google data centers’ power from zero carbon emission sources, measured on an hourly basis, beginning later this year. The agreement is part of a Google initiative to run its operations on 100% carbon-free power on an hourly basis by 2030. Google has two major data centers in Loudoun currently, with a third under construction.

To provide energy for the data centers, AES is assembling a 500 MW portfolio of wind, solar, hydro and battery storage sources from a combination of AES-owned renewable energy projects as well as projects contracted from third-party energy developers. The amount of the contract was not disclosed but AES said it expects to invest $600 million in the project, creating 1,200 jobs, both permanent and construction-related, in the communities generating the power.

On April 20, for Earth Day, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced that five of the company’s data centers in Denmark, Finland, Iowa, Oklahoma and Oregon were now operating near or at 90% carbon-free energy. “Within a decade we aim for every Google data center, cloud region, and office campus to run on clean electricity every hour of every day,” Pichai wrote in a company blog post. “Our carbon-free goal is as ambitious as other moonshots like building a quantum computer or developing a self-driving car. I’ve never been more optimistic about our collective ability — as governments, companies and individuals — to come together and chart a more sustainable path forward for our planet. We’ll continue to lead by example in our operations, support our partners, and build helpful products to build a carbon-free future for all.”

“Last year, Google set an ambitious sustainability goal of committing to 100% 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030. Today, we are proud that through our collaboration with Google, we are making 24/7 carbon-free energy a reality for their data centers in Virginia,” AES President and CEO Andrés Gluski said in a statement. “This first-of-its-kind solution, which we co-created with Google, will set a new sustainability standard for companies and organizations seeking to eliminate carbon from their energy supply.”

Google and AES formed a strategic alliance in 2019 to leverage Google Cloud technology in clean energy efforts.

Michael Terrell, Director of Energy at Google, said, “Not only is this partnership with AES an important step towards achieving Google’s 24/7 carbon-free energy goal, it also lays a blueprint for other companies looking to decarbonize their own operations. Our hope is that this model can be replicated to accelerate the clean energy transition, both for companies and, eventually, for power grids.”

With $9.66 billion in 2020 revenue, AES is one of the world’s largest power utilities, generating and distributing electricity in 15 nations across North America, South America, Europe and Asia. It employs more than 10,500 people worldwide.