The Spotsylvania Solar Energy Center may be high-tech, supplying energy to behemoths such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon, but its maintenance is decidedly basic.
During a recent tour of the facility, a flock of sheep stole the spotlight from Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), who visited the AES-owned property Thursday morning.
Kaine toured the solar facility to learn more about what is claimed to be the “largest solar project east of the Rockies” and how solar and sheep make good neighbors.
The Spotsylvania site spans more than 6,300 acres, about half of which are covered by solar panels and infrastructure including 380 stormwater basins, according to AES Clean Energy Operations Assistant Bridget Chernowetz.
The flock numbering 1,600 sheep serves as the vegetation maintenance crew, mowing down grass under the panels and fertilizing the soil. The process is called “agrivoltaics,” a dual-use method of growing crops and grazing livestock on solar utility projects that’s a model for AES’ future projects, said Bill Renaud, owner of Carrington Farms, which helps run the “landscaping” team.
“We have about two-thirds of the flock here,” Renaud told a group that included Kaine and journalists Thursday. “They rotate fields on a three- to four-day schedule.”
Renaud noted that the sheep are owned by several different farmers working in partnership with him and AES: Endless View Farms in Crimora, Three Springs Farm in Aroda, and the McConnells’ family farm.
Renaud worked to bring in herds from three multi-generational farms and took over management of the sheep, covering all the associated costs for their care.
“The farmers get to turn their homesteads into something more profitable than sheep, and when these sheep go to market, that check goes back to them,” Renaud said. “This program has allowed them to double the operations, double their footprint and use the revenues for other things on their farms.”
Sen. Tim Kaine (left) talks with Bill Renaud about the sheep grazing on the solar farm. (Photo by Kathy Knotts)
Renaud estimated 2,000 animals would go to market in the spring — with a 95% profit margin. The solar farm will also assist the Future Farmers of America in Spotsylvania and Orange counties by providing a small herd for them to raise and sell, with the proceeds going back to the groups.
The sheep business resonated with the senator.
“I can remember going with my father to the stockyards in Kansas,” Kaine told Renaud. “My family in Ireland were all sheep farmers, and when they immigrated to the United States they came to Kansas.”
The sheep are the biggest noise producers on the property. It’s not until the tour stops at the substation that the characteristic buzz of high voltage is audible.
Generating about 617 megawatts (the typical household in the U.S. uses under 1 MW annually), the 52 miles of solar arrays connect to 190 inverters, which then connect to a series of overhead lines ending at 90 medium-voltage transformers. That enters the substation, which feeds into the grid through a Dominion substation a few hundred yards away.
The boom in utility-scale solar was bolstered by the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, Kaine’s office said in a news release. Provisions in the bill allow for expanded clean energy tax credits to incentivize investment and production of renewable energy, such as solar.
Renaud will also work on bringing his agrivoltaic system to AES’ Madison solar project in Orange County. The former Dominion site, which was sold to AES, will come online in October.
AES is opening three other projects in the Commonwealth: Cavalier Solar in Isle of Wight and Surry counties; Skipjack Solar in Charles City County; and the Fitch solar project in Fauquier County.
“When those are fully up and operational, where will Virginia rank among states in terms of AES solar power generation?” Kaine asked.
“I would say, for AES, Virginia … will be a close second [behind California],” replied Walter Crenshaw, AES senior director of origination. “We have a lot of solar in California.”
“Well, we were a laggard,” Kaine said. “When I got into the Senate in 2013, we were deep in the bottom half in terms of states with solar. By many measures, I see now, we are in the top ten. We’ve gone from zero to hero. Especially in this and offshore wind, too.”
Solar energy coupled with efficient land use and agricultural benefits paid off for this once-controversial project on the county line, Renaud said.
“There’s no reason not to put this land to good use,” he added. “It benefits the community and it generates revenue and tax. And we are still producing green energy.”
