Virginia could be constructing its first wind farm for $60 million on 220 acres of land by summer, The Associated Press (AP) reported last Friday (June 12). A projected 38 megawatts will be produced by 19 turbines that will be built on a 4,400-foot ridge near the state’s border to West Virginia.

Highland New Wind Development (HNWD) has reportedly filed its site plan for the project, supposedly the last step before being issued a building permit. The farm may be finished by this year’s end, HNWD spokesman Frank Maisano told AP. Approval of the project was given in January last year by the State Corporation Commission.

HNWD, which claims to be developing the “greenest wind farm in the world,” is the first-ever wind facility to be licensed by the State Corporation Commission. Its proposal for the project promises the highest wind speed in the mid-Atlantic area, the preservation of logging sites, zero-deforestation, and proximity to the highway and its target market.

In related news, another renewable energy project in the state, a 3.8-megawatt solar electric system at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, was recently installed by Standard Solar, Inc. in the city of Alexandria. The students raised $56,000 themselves to buy the solar electric system.


-  Jen Balboa

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Sources:

¹ http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/WINDGAT12_20090612-214601/273576/
² http://www.highlandnewwind.com/