Large- or utility-scale solar projects are defined as those that produce over 10 MW of energy.
In Virginia, the average size of solar projects completed so far is 11 acres per megawatt. For a 10-MW project, this translates to 110 acres of land, at least, that will be covered by solar projects, not including extra acres of streams, wetlands, or other sensitive areas. And the average number of solar panels per megawatt is 3,500, resulting in 35,000 solar panels that would cover those 110 acres.
However, the average size of solar projects currently under construction in Virginia is 89 MW, or at least 979 acres per project (often more). And the average size of solar projects still in various stages of planning, from early to advanced, is 102 MW, or at least 1,100 acres per project (and often more).
Because solar panels are impermeable, they produce significant amounts of stormwater and runoff both during and after construction. This runoff flows onto neighboring properties as well as into streams, lakes, and sensitive watersheds.
In Virginia, 60 percent of the land area is in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Rivers and streams in the remaining 40 percent flow into North Carolina’s Albemarle Sound or the New River basin (in both Virginia and North Carolina).
One of the three main sources of damage to Virginia’s streams, river, and the Chesapeake Bay are stormwater sediment as well as nitrogen and phosphorus.
Sediment from stormwater and runoff damages waterways and the Bay by turning water cloudy.
These maps illustrate just how many acres will be used for utility-scale solar projects in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the river basins in southern Virginia:
