Reader questions purpose of Rocky Forge wind project
I imagine that the champagne corks are popping in Charlottesville now that all of the permits have been approved and construction is underway for the Rocky Forge wind energy project. We can now all be happy that Virginia has done its part to save the world from climate change…or have we?
Thinking about this project, I am reminded of the 1950s movie “God’s Little Acre.” The gist of the movie is that a farmer keeps an area of his farm set aside for his church. The crops grown in this, God’s Little Acre, are donated. At some point the farmer learns that gold is buried on his farm. As he looks for the gold, he fears the most likely location for the gold might be in the land he has set aside for the church. So, before he digs, he moves the “church’s area” so if he does find gold there, he won’t have to give it to the church.
So it goes with environmental causes: trees matter, wildlife matters, endangered bats matter, protected eagles matter, and pure mountain streams must be protected. That is until a shiny new penny shows up, namely, wind and solar energy. PMJ, the electric grid manager in this area, predicts that the wind on North Mountain will only produce about 13% of the capacity of the turbines installed. So, when Apex (the developer) says Rocky Forge will generate enough electricity to power 20,000 houses, they know that is not true.
Also, while the project will only produce a small a portion of that amount of energy, the electricity that is produced will go to a Google AI facility, not Virginia homes.
Those of us who live in the area know that the wind only blows at a reliable rate in the winter and early spring, a time when the country already has an abundance of electricity. Power need is peak in the summer, around July and August, when the country needs all the electricity it can get. However, during those months, central Virginia is in the doldrums. While our air conditioners are on full blast, we sit praying for any breeze to cool the afternoon. At those times Rocky Forge turbines will be mostly idle.
If so, why build it? What makes wind energy that shiny new penny so much so that DEQ is willing to sacrifice the trees and the wildlife and allow a concrete batch plant to be constructed on the banks of a class 4 trout stream? Why is it ok to sacrifice endangered bats and golden eagles? Tax credits, that why! The investors in this project qualify for a 12% to 30% investment tax credit.
There is only one question remaining for me: How much did Apex have to donate to the Sierra Club for them to announce repeatedly that this project is “perfectly sited?”
Steve Neas
Lexington
