BY ELIZABETH MCGOWAN
VIRGINIA CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRISTOPHER TYREE
Pound, Va.—When Randy Carter was growing up in the heart of coal country, his grandmother counted on the warmth of the sun to dry laundry she hung on the backyard clothesline.
Now, half a century later, he serves on the Wise County Board of Supervisors that greenlighted an enterprise also dedicated to harvesting sunlight—a solar array designed to power the equivalent of 1,700 homes when it comes online within two years.
Wildcats Solar panels will cover roughly two-thirds of 100 acres high above Highway 23 near Pound. It’s expected to generate $800,000 in tax revenue for the county over its projected 40-year lifespan.
That’s just the dawn of The Nature Conservancy’s proposal to re-energize Central Appalachia with renewables.
We’re living in a time when we have to look at solar and figure out our future. God created the sun and had a purpose for it. We want Wise County to shine.
—Randy Carter, Wise County Board of SupervisorsRandy Carter, Wise County Board of Supervisors
Indeed, the notion of stationing solar panels on reclaimed surface mines has been flirted with for years. But the country’s largest environmental organization is intent on being the beacon that leapfrogs the “nice idea” phase by planting 500-plus megawatts of arrays and energy-storing batteries on minelands that pock its prized 253,000-acre Cumberland Forest Project in Southwest Virginia and adjacent Tennessee and Kentucky.
Carter beams with pride about his county being plucky enough to begin transitioning from a fossil fuel that defined the region for centuries to a carbon-free electricity source with the potential to foment an economic turnaround.
“We’re living in a time when we have to look at solar and figure out our future,” said the 58-year-old Methodist minister. “God created the sun and had a purpose for it. We want Wise County to shine.”
However, the opportunity to saturate the region with affordable, renewable and locally sourced energy is being jeopardized by the budget reconciliation bill President Donald Trump signed into law on Independence Day. Provisions in H.R. 1 severely limit once-generous incentives for all forms of solar development nationwide.
That could imperil TNC’s Cumberland Forest solar initiatives while also inflating electric bills, depriving residents of the health benefits affiliated with clean energy and denying rural municipalities millions in taxes and fees. Virginia households could pay an additional $250 annually for energy, according to one estimate.
U.S. Congressman Morgan Griffith voted for H.R. 1 because “the positives of the bill clearly outweigh the negatives,” he said in a statement.
The Republican, who has represented Southwest Virginia since 2011, highlighted how “the unleashing of American energy potential contained in this bill will lead to increases in production. Because of this energy costs are expected to stabilize and even be lower in the coming decade.”
Griffith’s vague H.R. 1 assessments counter research and insights from the solar industry. And nowhere does he mention the potential blow his vote could deliver to the struggling coal communities he has represented for decades.
The law he backed also speeds up considerably the timeline companies have to complete commercial projects before tax credits disappear. Those subsidies, hot potatoes for much of their two-decade existence, had been solidified and boosted in the Inflation Reduction Act signed by President Joe Biden in 2022.
Norfolk-based Jim Purekal, who oversees governor and state legislator outreach for Advanced Energy United, a national industry association, said the takeaway from the H.R. 1 is “to get these (solar) projects approved and developed ASAP. We are now in a rush.”
TerraForm Power, ENGIE North America and Dominion Energy Virginia are well aware of that urgency. In 2021, TNC began signing agreements with the three companies to construct 25 projects that add up to at least 189 MW of solar panels and 320 MW of battery storage. The latest—and final—round was announced in February. Those 500-plus MW would provide enough energy to power up to 85,000 homes.
Brad Kreps, the Abingdon, Va.-based director of TNC’s Clinch Valley Program, has his fingers crossed that the new law doesn’t compromise his nonprofit’s promise to lift the fortunes of diminished rural communities and also show investors that strategically sited renewable energy can be incorporated into a land restoration blueprint.
“When you roll together the economic and community benefits, there’s a compelling case that these solar projects are on the side of being good for people and good for nature,” he said. “It would be a real shame if they weren’t developed.”
For instance, the 509 MW of solar projects would generate $6.8 million in grants for community-driven initiatives in the Cumberland Forest’s tri-state region, per TNC’s agreements with developers. The bulk of it, $5.3 million, would be destined for Virginia applicants. But those dollars won’t materialize if arrays are canceled, Kreps said.
Greg Meade, TNC’s director of the forest project who also works out of Abingdon, said shorting local residents of those benefits would be harsh because “that windfall is such a big deal” for filling funding gaps.
TNC’s revenue stream from leasing Cumberland Forest land to renewable energy developers could also shrink considerably if solar projects are canceled, Meade added. He declined to provide any specific figures.
Relatedly, the installations will potentially generate hundreds of thousands in tax revenue for the municipalities where they’re built. No exact total is available because those sums are negotiated between the companies and local governments, Kreps said.
“It’s an uncertain environment but we still think the development of solar projects responsibly sited on areas of lower environmental value is a great value proposition,” he said. “Clearly the demand for energy keeps going up.”
The latter is especially true in Virginia, propelled by a surge in the construction of electricity-hungry data centers. Unconstrained demand for power is predicted to double over the next decade , according to a December independent forecast commissioned by Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.
Stymieing solar puts the greatest negative impact on ratepayers because utilities will likely have to pay more for power from projects that don’t qualify for tax credits, Purekal said.
Energy Innovation, a non-partisan think tank with an office in Washington, predicted that H.R. 1 would almost double wholesale electricity costs—to $6.2 billion in Virginia by 2035–and also increase annual energy costs per household by $250 in that same timeframe.
Relatedly, Virginia will likely join other states in buying more expensive out-of-state energy or fossil fuel-generated energy that costs more and takes significant time to permit and build, Purekal said.
“Even after the tax benefits go away,” he said, “solar is still the most cost-effective form of energy generation we have.”
CLIMATE CHANGE PROMPTED TNC TO GO BIG AND GO SOLAR. BUT DID A CONGRESSIONAL VOTE UNDERMINE SOLAR-CENTERED ECONOMIC PROSPECTS IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA?
In 2019, the dual threats of climate change and biodiversity loss prompted TNC to depart from its traditional philosophy of buying one parcel at a time to purchase the enormous swaths that it renamed the Cumberland Forest. About 153,000 of those quarter-million acres are in Southwest Virginia.
While protecting and restoring wild areas is the nonprofit’s wheelhouse, such a gargantuan landscape demanded ingenuity. A commitment to renewing and diversifying Central Appalachia’s economy prompted TNC to consider siting renewable energy on about 40,000 acres of Cumberland Forest minelands where planting trees wasn’t practical.
TNC acquired the Cumberland Forest properties in a $130 million deal that required adopting a corporate ownership model. To pursue solar, the organization vowed to seek out companies compatible with its values and approach and capable of figuring out which sites had enough level land and access to roads and electric lines.
The Solar Energy Industries Association roots for niche initiatives such as development on brownfields – and fears Trump’s mammoth law will thwart them.
“In the face of rising energy costs, global instability and growing demand for power, Congress has turned its back on the very industries that are adding the majority of the new electricity generating capacity to the grid,” said trade group CEO Abigail Ross Hopper. “It is deeply disappointing to see partisan politics outweigh pro-growth solutions that serve all Americans.”
Griffith regularly touts how he spearheaded his state’s 2018 inclusion in a federal grant program that streamlines the reuse of old mine sites to create jobs, draw visitors and usher in opportunities.
It’s the same initiative that helped Charlottesville-based TerraForm qualify for a $500,000 federal grant, vetted by the Virginia Department of Energy, to cover costs of environmental standards on a Wise County site last mined in 1957. Years before its relationship with TNC, TerraForm secured permission to pioneer a first – a 3.6 MW array that has powered the Mineral Gap Data Centers in Wise County since 2023.
Griffith’s thumbs-up on H.R. 1 seems to undermine community leaders diligently trying not only to escalate solar’s reach but also shape a homegrown workforce and a supply chain with local companies manufacturing key parts such as panels, inverters and trackers and racking. Can an industry take root in a region without the chance to attain critical mass?
He did not respond to repeated requests for an interview or emailed questions from VCIJ.
Statewide data compiled by the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center reveals how woefully behind Southwest Virginia is on the solar power generation front.
TNC belongs to an organization that has been striving to alter that dynamic for the last decade. The Solar Workgroup of Southwest Virginia has joined other nonprofits, community action agencies, colleges, state agencies, businesses and citizens motivated to cultivate a renewable energy industry cluster in the seven coalfield counties.
“When we look at the big picture, we need to increase the amount of renewable energy as smartly as possible,” Kreps said. “Solar on minelands is the smart way to achieve a balance that maximizes community benefits and minimizes environmental impacts.”
Under H.R. 1, keeping domestic solar factories operating or adding new ones to the mix might become more difficult in Central Appalachia and beyond, explained Purekal, of Advanced Energy United. For instance, developers could afford to purchase higher-priced U.S. panels by taking advantage of a Biden administration extra tax credit.
But slashing that bonus—and compounding it with tariffs on raw materials and other solar components—could put the kibosh on stateside industry expansion and compel developers and manufacturers to buy from suppliers linked to China, he said.
All of this upset is unsettling for the industry, even developers with assured financing for projects, Purekal explained.
“People need to understand that the money to develop these projects isn’t sitting in one person’s bank account,” he said. “They have to borrow to build. Anytime you introduce uncertainty, you increase risk. And risk is expensive.”
João Ferreira, a regional economist with the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center, countered some of that alarm. Sheer volume is what’s necessary to impel a local solar supply chain, he said. Although he hasn’t yet studied the particulars of H.R. 1, he predicted that solar across Virginia will continue to expand, despite a topsy-turvy future.
“We’re probably going to need more solar than we ever thought, so even if the economics of renewables changes, solar is definitely the technology that provides better capacity at better cost in the short term,” he said. “And that’s not just wishful thinking.”
Still, the knife that is H.R. 1 would be carving into the $6.8 million that Cumberland Forest solar developers have promised to deliver to TNC’s vaunted Community Fund. It’s a local grant program that provides seed money for small community projects that capitalize on recreation to boost the region’s economy.
Shortly after purchasing the land, TNC established the fund with royalties that fossil fuel extractors, which still own mineral rights throughout the Cumberland Forest property, are required to pay to the landowner for the coal and gas they extract. Payments from solar developers will be deposited in the same pot, Kreps said.
Thus far, grants have paid for dozens of undertakings as varied as installing elk viewing shelters, building a canoe launch, improving hiking and biking trails, outfitting a nature center with an HVAC system, planting native trees and renovating playgrounds.
UVA-Wise, which administers the Community Fund grants in Virginia, has opted to take a regional approach by accepting project proposals from all seven of the state’s coalfield counties. However, some advocacy organizations would prefer a hyperlocal focus.
For instance, Austin Counts of Appalachian Voices said the $200,000 that TerraForm is providing via Wildcats should go solely to Pound because “its residents are accepting a new industry and bearing its positive or negative impacts.”
The mission of the nonprofit, active in five states and an engine behind the Solar Workgroup of Southwest Virginia, is to sustain the region’s mountains, forests and waters by promoting economic solutions that foster community wealth.
“The Community Fund is a step in the right direction because it shows the developer is thinking about impact,” said Counts, the organization’s solar and electrification projects manager. “But the next step should be, can we ensure that those dollars go solely to close-by communities?”
It’s a sticking point, he continued, because some solar developers don’t take the time to engage deeply enough to understand a municipality’s specific needs. That requires listening to the people who live there, not just the broader set of stakeholders that encompasses officials from government, universities and other entities.
DEVELOPERS: BEING FIRST IS HARD. AND PRICE HIKES AND DELAYS ARE LIKLEY
Since its founding in 2016 as Sun Tribe, the company doing business with TNC as TerraForm Power, hasn’t been content with run-of-the-mill solar projects. As coal fades, the company is eager to fold green energy into a stable and resilient economic opportunity in Central Appalachia.
Within six months, TerraForm is slated to begin construction on the initial solar array to rise in the Cumberland Forest, said Betsy Arlen, the company’s vice president of real estate. Wildcats, to be built on the former Indian Creek surface mine, is set to be fully operational by 2027.
“Being first is very hard,” she said. “But the driving force for us is the economic development and community benefits that solar can bring to these historical energy communities who are deserving of our attention.”
The complexity of designing and refining studies that covered details such as engineering, verifying the content of the subsurface, connecting to the grid, and erosion and sediment control has led to delays, Arlen said.
“The driving force for us is the economic development and community benefits that solar can bring to these historical energy communities who are deserving of our attention.”
— Betsy Arlen, TerraForm Power vice president of real estate
TerraForm measures the 40-year economic impact of Wildcats at $2 million. In addition to $800,000 in tax revenue for Wise County, that total includes a $200,000 contribution to TNC’s Community Fund and other money pumped into the region during construction. The project will generate 81 jobs, including 62 for construction, three to manage operations and 16 support positions.
By sticking to its deadlines, Wildcats can reap both federal investment and production tax credits that H.R.1 is eliminating. To qualify, the new law stipulates that projects must break ground by next July or come online by 2027.
Those due dates are consequential because, for instance, the IRA allowed solar developers an investment tax credit of 30%. Companies building in the coalfields could qualify for an additional 10% credit because transforming such brownfields is more complex and costlier.
One small H.R. 1 concession was sparing the 30% investment tax credits for battery storage projects. They remain eligible for the full rate until 2033, then taper off and disappear in 2036. Still, Purekal and others anticipate a construction rush to lock in tax credits because sourcing rules for materials are set to be tightened next year.
That storage compromise isn’t much consolation for ENGIE North America, which is in the midst of shepherding the development of 13 separate solar array projects across the Cumberland Forest.
Seven of them, designed for up to 340 Virginia acres, range in size from the 3.88 MW Chipmunk project to the 5 MW Porcupine, Bobcat, Coyote, Black Bear and River Otter arrays. None is as far along as TerraForm’s Wildcats, but ENGIE is optimistic that federal rules clarifying H.R. 1 dictates on construction and materials will allow developers wiggle room on tax credits.
Chicago-based Kristen Fornes leads ENGIE’s distributed solar and storage program. While the blow of the federal government switching clean energy targets could slow down completion of her company’s Cumberland Forest solar projects, she said in July that she didn’t anticipate canceling them.
However, she said losing out on tax credits would raise costs for ENGIE and require them to rewrite contracts with the utility buyer, Appalachian Power. That, in turn, would hike the price of power for ratepayers. Project delays and cancellations would also drive up power bills, she said.
“That would be the new normal for many new solar projects across the country, not only the ones on the Cumberland Forest,” Fornes said.
“We see a lot of environmental benefits,” on collaborating with the Conservancy, Fornes said, citing solar’s lack of greenhouse gas emissions. Plus, “it can enhance access to clean energy in (rural) areas where it’s most needed.”
Separately, Dominion Energy is repurposing about 1,200 acres of the reclaimed Red Onion surface mine and surrounding properties in Wise and Dickenson counties to build the 50-MW Highlands Solar project.
About one third of the power generated by Highlands will come from panels installed on 140 Virginia acres that are part of TNC’s Cumberland Forest, Kreps said.
“We’re the landlord, but we’re also the biggest cheerleaders of these companies,” he said. “They’re the ones navigating the interconnection, the agreements with mineral owners and all of the other details.”
Most of the TNC projects would interconnect with Appalachian Power, a subsidiary of American Electric Power. A geographical quirk means two solar arrays being built by TerraForm, called Bull Run and Coeburn, would be in territory serviced by Kentucky Utilities. Old Dominion Power, a KU offshoot, provides electricity to parts of five Southwest Virginia counties.
PRESERVING HIDDEN, DELICATE HABITATS AND COMMUNITIES
As an associate professor of biology at UVA-Wise, Wally Smith is attuned to mountain chorus frogs and other rare Appalachian amphibians.
The at-risk species has evidently expanded its territory by hopping into coal country. The frogs now breed in shallow puddles left behind when mining companies revegetated enormous mountainous sites after leveling the topography.
Before TNC even bought the Cumberland Forest, citizen scientists had documented the frogs at Bull Run, a 130-acre Wise County site where TerraForm is planning a 20-MW solar array.
“The landscape was flattened, the water has no place to go, so it pools,” Smith explained. “If you’re a frog, it’s paradise for reproducing.”
His worries about Bull Run displacing the pocket-size residents were assuaged by TerraForm’s assurance that the panels wouldn’t interfere with frog habitat.
Despite that accommodation, Smith said he resents having to contact the solar developer directly instead of allowing subject matter experts to present data to decision-makers during a public comment period.
That public comment outlet was stripped away by Virginia authorities to encourage solar development on reclaimed mines and other properties.
Smith questions whether the redevelopment of restored surface mines receives enough scrutiny because they're not pristine and perceived as expendable.
However, both Kreps, of TNC, and Arlen, of TerraForm, agree that it’s a misconception to think that solar developers can run roughshod over conservation regulations.
“By no means do these non-forested minelands have zero environmental value,” Kreps said. “Yes, these sites allow for a more streamlined permitting process, but there are still environmental screens for them to meet.”
For instance, TerraForm is taking pains to position the panels at the Wildcats site so as not to interfere with a significant wetland.
“We don’t skirt any concerns as we try to understand local ecosystems and the context of each site,” Arlen said. “Our commitment is to gathering data and taking a scientific approach.”
Smith will continue to be a voice for the tenacious frogs – and their brethren. “I’m a fan of solar,” Smith said. “It’s not so much, is solar good or bad, but, is the mechanism in place to make sure we get it right?
Fred Luntsford, who serves with Randy Carter on the Wise County Board of Supervisors, is asking that same question but from a different angle.
Supervisors have considered energy development proposals ranging from solar, wind, hydropower, and more recently, nuclear, since they realized “coal was fizzling out.”
Solar rose to the top because it is available, appeals to residents and delivers a needed, fresh source of revenue for the county.
“Wildcats is just part of the big picture,” said the 76-year-old former town manager of Appalachia. It “provides the revenue we need to keep bread on the table and pay the bills.
“We’re giving it a shot, but we’re not driving down a one-way road to solar.”
The circularity of entering an age where arrays collect sunlight atop terrain where miners dug for coal—poeticized as buried sunshine—isn’t lost on Luntsford.
“It might be a home run for us, but you have to understand that one home run doesn’t win a ball game.”
Reach Elizabeth McGowan at elizabeth.mcgowan@renewalnews.org