{"id":254624,"date":"2023-04-25T15:26:13","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T13:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=254624"},"modified":"2023-04-25T15:26:24","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T13:26:24","slug":"giant-solar-array-set-to-go-up-in-rural-virginia-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=254624","title":{"rendered":"Giant solar array set to go up in rural Virginia county"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From\u00a0CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Large Scale On-ground Solar PV Power Plant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Just in time for Earth Day, the Board of Supervisors in Central Virginia\u2019s Albemarle County unanimously approved a massive solar array project in an area otherwise dotted by farms, forests and vineyards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking advantage of generous federal subsidies for renewable energy, local developer Hexagon Energy is pouring $220 million into the project, which will feature over 400,000 solar panels on a 2,300-acre parcel of land. The site is located about 120 miles southwest of the source of the subsidies: Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction is slated to begin this summer, and the facility is expected to be in operation a year later. Hexagon Energy and county officials say the project will provide energy to 25,000 homes and \u201cbenefit\u201d 60,000 people, some of whom live outside the county.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA few people have said, you know Donna, that electricity is not staying in Albemarle County, it\u2019s going to go somewhere else. And that\u2019s true to some extent. Once the electricity is generated, it goes up to the power lines and is transmitted to where ever it\u2019s going to go,\u201d Donna Price, chair of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, told CBS 19 News<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Massive Expansion of Power Lines<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Price is right about the power lines transmitting the electricity from the solar array to homes in the project\u2019s service area. Wind and solar power are transmitted over high-voltage power lines that crisscross the areas receiving the green energy. The additional power lines needed to transmit wind and solar power, when combined with the tens of thousands of miles of high-voltage lines needed to supply power to the hundreds of thousands of EV charging stations to be installed across the U.S. in the years to come, will blight the countryside in ways renewable energy proponents are eager to keep quiet. That is in addition to the serious safety concerns \u2013 think wildfires \u2013 the high-voltage wires will pose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The power that will be generated by the solar array in Central Virginia will be random and intermittent. None of the project\u2019s over 400,000 solar panels will produce any electricity at night or on rainy or cloudy days. In December and January when days are short, the sun in Central Virginia typically rises around 7:20 in the morning and sets around 4:50 in the afternoon. In other words, even on sunny days in the dead of winter, the panels will generate no electricity for around 15 hours of a 24-hour day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the electricity supply will be unreliable, the project will produce a steady stream of revenue to the developer, thanks to the federal subsidies. Wind and solar power companies cannot stand on their on two feet, and will require taxpayer handouts from here to eternity. That\u2019s why renewable energy lobbyists have been hustling Washington to extend the subsidies; they know that without them, the game would be over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perverse Transfer of Wealth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the enactment of last year\u2019s ill-named Inflation Reduction Act \u2013 brought to you courtesy of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin\u2019s backroom deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer \u2013 the scam is set to go on for many years to come. This is a transfer of wealth from hard-working Americans \u2013 many of them of modest means \u2013 to well-connected and well-heeled green hustlers, who provide unreliable energy in return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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