The Unified Future of Clean Energy

By |2019-04-25T10:44:44-04:00March 28th, 2019|Company Update, Industry, Land Use, Policy, Virginia Solar|

By Francis Hodsoll, Lea Maamari and Melody S. Gee Melody S. Gee is a business and technical writer in St. Louis, MO. Decarbonizing energy through solar and wind technologies, as well as harnessing geothermal, hydropower, and biomass power, moves us toward meeting American’s growing desire for zero emission, zero carbon energy. The question of how and whether these discreet clean energy industries can join forces or align interests has stirred efforts and prompted discussion among industry experts and stakeholders, including at the recent Clean Energy Leadership Institute (CELI) Conference this past October. In this article, we explore the possibilities of organized and unified efforts among clean

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Revisiting the Composite Index of Virginia

By |2018-12-20T14:53:10-05:00December 20th, 2018|Industry, Land Use, Virginia Solar|

By Francis Hodsoll and Aaron Morrow In a series of blogs in March and April 2017, we discussed the Composite Index (CI) and the impact that solar energy facilities (solar projects) have on the calculation of the CI. In turn, we discussed some of the possible repercussions of the CI policy concerning the awarding of solar project permits. We continue to run across fundamental misunderstandings when it comes to the impact of solar projects on the CI calculation. To offer

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A Trifecta of SolUnesco Announcements

By |2018-10-10T12:40:46-04:00October 10th, 2018|Company Update, Industry, Virginia Solar|

They say good things come in threes. The SolUnesco team has worked hard all summer and has achieved a hattrick of exciting news to report. SolUnesco Partners with Apex Clean Energy On Sept 4, 2018, SolUnesco inked an agreement with Apex Clean Energy that resulted in the sale of 390 MW of SolUnesco’s pipeline. This agreement affects four projects: Carvers Creek, Moody Creek, Red Brick, and Rivanna, each of which ranges from 11 to 150 MWac. SolUnesco will continue to

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Challenges and Opportunities in Virginia’s Solar Energy

By |2018-10-02T14:37:24-04:00October 2nd, 2018|Company Update, Industry, Land Use, Virginia Solar|

This past week, SolUnesco’s CEO , participated in a session entitled “The Rubin Group: Lessons from Virginia at Solar Power International. During the session, Hodsoll discussed how Virginia has rapidly become a clean energy state. In addition, Hodsoll discussed the challenges and opportunities that still exist for solar energy development in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia’s Painfully Slow Start Francis outlined three key interrelated challenges that the industry is facing: Inertia: Virginia is inhibited by an outdated regulatory system that

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Decommissioning of Solar Sites: A Key Consideration of the Project

By |2021-03-25T11:30:24-04:00September 10th, 2018|Industry, Land Use, Virginia Solar|

By Lea Maamari As developers of projects that may have three decades of longevity in a community, we want to assure our neighbors that we will leave the land in the same or better condition than we found it. We know that this is also important to our communities, as questions about decommissioning have risen with virtually every solar project proposed in Virginia. In a comprehensive report, which can be downloaded here, SolUnesco has reviewed 45 county ordinances and 50

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Helping Middle School Students Explore Solar Technology at Locust Grove Middle School

By |2018-06-08T10:01:15-04:00June 7th, 2018|Charitable Giving, Company Update, News, Virginia Solar|

By Seth Maughan At SolUnesco, “community” is one of our core values, and we make it a goal to give back to the communities in which we operate. As such, we were thrilled to recently support the learning of solar concepts at Locust Grove Middle School. The school is located just down the street from the Madison Solar Farm, a proposed 400-acre, 60-MW solar farm, on which SolUnesco worked to get zoning approval from the County last year. On May

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Realizing the Economic Benefits of Solar: The Virginia Solar Workforce Initiative

By |2018-06-06T11:51:40-04:00June 6th, 2018|Construction, Industry, News, Southeast, Virginia Solar|

by Francis Hodsoll and Jon Hillis Solar is Growing in the US More and more companies have made the commitment to purchase renewable energy as part of their sustainable business strategies. Large enterprises such as Microsoft, Kohl’s, Apple, The North Face are powered by solar, while Google, Marriott, McDonald’s and a majority of the Fortune 100 consider access to renewable energy as part of their investment decisions. Numerous companies have established their operations in locations where they can access solar

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Supplying Solar Energy in Virginia

By |2018-05-24T15:08:11-04:00May 23rd, 2018|Industry, Land Use, Virginia Solar|

By Francis Hodsoll and Jon Hillis We often receive questions about how the transmission of solar energy works here in Virginia. In addition, we often are asked about the supply of solar and how that matches up with the demand for renewable energy. Read on for some insights into these two questions. The State of Solar Supply in Virginia (May 15, 2018) Currently, in Virginia, there are 10 in-service utility-scale solar energy projects totaling 327 MWs that have completed the

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Embracing Solar Can Attract Business Investment to Virginia

By |2018-05-18T14:43:10-04:00May 17th, 2018|Industry, News, Southeast, Virginia Solar|

By Seth Maughan Earlier this Spring, Microsoft announced some big news. The Company broadcast "the single largest corporate purchase of solar energy ever in the United States." On the heels of two large purchases in Singapore and India, Microsoft closed a deal to purchase 315 megawatts (MW) of solar in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This purchase brings Microsoft closer to the Company’s goal of having their data centers rely 60% on renewable energy by 2020. Governor Northam praised the deal,

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SolUnesco White Paper: Solar Myths Busted

By |2018-06-20T13:19:46-04:00February 8th, 2018|Industry, Land Use, Virginia Solar|

Background This white paper is a companion piece to our two previous blogs on local permitting (Hodsoll and Maughan). In our local permitting blogs we provided our perspectives on best practices for local permitting and how we engage with the local community. We write this white paper to discuss some of the issues and concerns that are raised by the community during this process. All of us engaged in the industry have heard the naysayer’s arguments. From the most bizarre

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