Photograph: FirstEnergy
The third of a quintet of West Virginia photo voltaic farms simply got here on-line, and whereas that’s a renewable milestone, there’s a disappointing hitch.
3 out of 5 West Virginia photo voltaic farms are on-line
FirstEnergy subsidiaries Mon Energy and Potomac Edison have launched a 5.75 megawatt (MW), 17,000-panel photo voltaic farm at Marlowe in Berkeley County. The brand new photo voltaic farm sits on about 36 acres of land alongside I-81 and the Potomac River – land that used to retailer ash from the retired R. Paul Smith Energy Station.
In 2022, FirstEnergy wrapped up a serious cleanup effort, pulling greater than 3 million tons of ash from the positioning to be reused in cement manufacturing. With the landfill formally closed, the corporate cleared the way in which to show the previous waste website right into a clear vitality generator as a part of its photo voltaic program. Fifty-four native union employees constructed the photo voltaic farm, which options US-made photo voltaic panels, a racking system, and electrical gear.
It’s the third of Mon Energy and Potomac Edison’s 5 photo voltaic farms that may generate as much as 50 MW of unpolluted vitality mixed. The businesses accomplished their first photo voltaic farm at Fort Martin Energy Station (18.9 MW) in early 2024and their Rivesville photo voltaic website (5.5 MW) got here on-line final fall. In complete, the businesses now have 30 MW of photo voltaic capability.
Electrek’s Take
Mixed, the 5 initiatives will create greater than 87,000 Photo voltaic Renewable Vitality Credit (SRECs) accessible for buy by clients for 4 cents per kilowatt hour along with regular charges. Except for the important good thing about reducing carbon emissions, there isn’t anything in it for purchasers, other than spending, on common, an additional $40 or so a month out of the goodness of your coronary heart to go photo voltaic. Heck, you don’t even get a T-shirt.
Mon Energy and Potomac Edison – why are clients being charged MORE to purchase into photo voltaic in West Virginia? That’s a stick, not a carrot. (And WV? Coal’s not coming again. It doesn’t matter what Trump says.)
However photo voltaic progress wherever is one thing to be cheerful about, and photo voltaic vitality in coal-state West Virginia is progressing. In line with the Photo voltaic Vitality Industries Affiliation, as of This autumn 2024, 205 MW of photo voltaic is put in in West Virginia. So, it’s no shock that it’s on the backside – it’s ranked forty ninth within the US for the quantity of photo voltaic put in. Nonetheless, it’s projected to achieve fortieth place over the following 5 years with 1,064 MW, so at the least it’s anticipated to enhance.
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