Today, at a stop of Governor Terry McAuliffe’s Clean Energy Jobs tour, Kentuck Solar Project stakeholders announced that construction of the 6-megawatt alternating current system will commence in August. Sol Systems is the financing partner and will oversee the design and construction. TurningPoint Energy, the developer, owns the 76-acre parcel of land that will host the single-axis tracker array. Danville Utilities, the largest municipal utility in Virginia, will purchase all the energy from the solar farm for the next 25 years, adding more renewable energy to its portfolio.
The growth of solar in Virginia spiked in 2016. To date, 238.3MW are installed in the state with 192.4MW of that total installed just last year. Additionally, projections for 2017 estimate the state will add over 250MW this year (source: Greentech Media and the Solar Energy Industries Association). In 2016, the state added 1,273 new solar jobs, up 65% over 2105. Projections for 2017 estimate an increase in solar jobs of 9% (source: The Solar Foundation).
“The City of Danville is excited to host the Governor and discuss the plans for the construction of the 6-megawatt Kentuck solar project slated to be completed by the end of 2017,” said Jason Grey, Director of Utilities. “We look forward to this project providing energy and capacity to our electric customers for many years to come.”
The project, sited at 2048 Kentuck Church Road in Ringgold, spans between Dan River Middle School, Kentuck Elementary, and Dan River High School, and connects to several pieces of private property. The system will have over 23,000 panels, and a vegetative buffer will be planted around the fence to preserve aesthetics.
“This project brings more than $10 million of investment and will boost demand for local goods and services over several months during construction,” noted George Ashton, President of Sol Systems. “This is the first of many utility-scale solar project investments for us in Virginia, and we believe the local community and partners in Danville are a model of what can be accomplished by working together.”
“The clean energy industry holds great potential for economic development in all parts of Virginia, especially areas like Southside that have struggled with job growth as core industries have declined,” said Governor McAuliffe. “I am pleased to see the leadership that Danville Municipal Utility is taking to provide its customers with more renewable energy that is cost competitive with fossil fuels. The City of Danville is taking the lead on this issue in Virginia and I am hopeful other communities will follow its example and reap the economic and community benefits that come from increased use of renewable energy.”
In addition to supplying 1.5% of the City’s power needs and providing long-term cost certainty for the utility, the Kentuck Solar project will offset carbon emissions equivalent to 35,338 homes over its life.
“The City of Danville selected the TurningPoint Energy team to deliver a 6MW best-in-class solar project for its customers at highly competitive solar power pricing rates,” said Jared Schoch, Principal at TurningPoint Energy. “We have developed the project, purchased the real estate, cleared the way for construction, and selected Sol Systems as the solar project investor and builder to deliver on this commitment to provide solar energy to the City and our new neighbors and community, including Dan River Elementary, Middle and High Schools.”
ABOUT SOL SYSTEMS
Sol Systems, a national solar finance and development firm, delivers sophisticated, customized services for institutional, corporate, and municipal customers. Sol is employee-owned, and is backed by Sempra Energy, a $25+ billion energy company.
Over the last eight years, Sol Systems has delivered more than 595MW of solar projects for Fortune 100 companies, municipalities, universities, churches, and small businesses. Sol now manages over $650 million in solar energy assets for utilities, banks, and Fortune 500 companies.
Inc. 5000 recognized Sol Systems in its annual list of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies for four consecutive years. For more information, please visit www.solsystems.com.
ABOUT DANVILLE UTILITIES
Danville Utilities provides natural gas, water, wastewater and telecommunications services in Danville and distributes electricity to approximately 42,000 customer locations in a 500-square-mile service territory covering Danville, the southern third of Pittsylvania County, and small portions of Henry and Halifax counties.
ABOUT TURNING POINT ENERGY
TurningPoint Energy is a clean energy advisory, development and investment company headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Its principals have experience developing solar projects totaling more than $1.7 billion in value over 500MW of operating solar power plants throughout the United States within the last nine years. TurningPoint Energy is structured as a privately held, lean company with some of the lowest overhead and profit requirements in the energy industry, the ability to make decisions quickly and customize our projects to each customer's needs. For more information about TurningPoint Energy, visit www.turningpoint-energy.com