Environment and energy reporter for Virginia Mercury Sarah Vogelsong covered the Virginia Solar Summit, writing Panel says Virginia should do more to promote solar development on brownfields. Of particular importance to the Northern Neck, she wrote
Virginia should do more to encourage developers to site solar on brownfields rather than prime agricultural and forested land, panelists at the Virginia Solar Summit in Richmond Thursday said.
Not using forested land is important to organizations like Friends of Lancaster County Virginia, particularly when companies such as Dominion opt to use more than 2,000 largely forested acres. Details about the Friends' opposition is shown below.
Sarah Vogelsong continued,
Brownfields are previously developed lands that may be environmentally contaminated, including former industrial sites, mines and landfills. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there are 450,000 brownfields nationwide, and the Virginia Department of Energy has estimated that 100,000 acres of land formerly used for surface mining of coal alone is available for redevelopment in Virginia.
Policymakers have been eyeing such sites as good candidates for solar energy, both because many already have infrastructure in place to connect with the electric grid and because their potential contamination may make them less attractive for uses like residential or commercial development.
In Virginia, these so-called "brightfields" could also prove one solution to rising tensions over the significant land use requirements of large-scale solar installations as the state moves to decarbonize its electric grid by midcentury.
There are a number of locations on the Northern Neck where land has been contaminated, or may have been contaminated by chemicals. Locations include marinas, gas stations, businesses using chemicals, and dumping sites.
Paying attention to government action and providing feedback to elected and appointed officials is essential for those interested in protecting green space and supporting solar.