RICHMOND — Although most Virginians support and prefer solar energy, misinformation is keeping more of it from being built.
Several counties and cities have banned solar energy farms because of misinformation, saying solar requires too much land or energy, which stunts the state’s progress on its climate goals.
Jim Purekal, director of the advocacy group Advanced Energy United, said other misconceptions prevent solar from being as widely considered as it should be.
“We’re also seeing stories that solar wrecks the land for future development, and that’s not true either,” Purekal asserted. “Some of us can also go into how to develop or actually develop that land. It should also be possible to be able to reuse that land once the solar project is done.”
Virginia lawmakers introduced legislation to remove solar-energy installation bans aggravated by county-level moratoriums. Had the law gone forward, localities would not have been able to ban solar projects until they hit 4% of their landmass. Lifting bans can increase dual-use solar projects and solar grazing, which uses livestock to keep a solar panel field’s vegetation contained. Farmers can also keep bees on the land to pollinate flowers.
Solar siting bans could mean communities see more fossil-fuel plant and natural gas pipeline development. Although it aligns with Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s All of the Above energy plan, it works against the goals outlined in the 2020 Clean Economy Act.
Purekal pointed out communities can utilize other forms of renewable energy besides solar.
“People should also look at wind, both onshore and offshore; that’s another reliable revenue stream that counties should look at,” Purekal urged. “We’re talking about — and people will have a question too about — what happens if the wind’s not blowing, which leads to battery storage.”
He added battery storage needs to be a part of the growing conversation surrounding renewable energy. It serves as an answer to the age-old question of how renewables work when the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing. Battery storage saves up energy so it can be used at different times.