![cardinal number fifth power of ten cardinal number fifth power of ten](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/22/de/73/22de73cb617ea27a89d32f9a09fe0d6e.png)
What I’m trying to figure out is whether in tobacco country we have more solar than tobacco. There are solar farms across most of Virginia (though few in Southwest so far) while tobacco has always been a regional crop. Still, that’s not a good apples-to-apples – or farm-to-farm – comparison. So, even just measuring the small solar farms, it’s clear that, yes, Virginia probably does have more solar acres than tobacco acres – no doubt a lot more. (A caveat: I’m counting the acres approved by solar, but some projects might not be under construction or completed yet, so when I refer to “solar acres” I mean what’s been approved.). Still, based on what we know about some solar farms (more on that to come), it’s reasonable to assume that most of those 54,692 acres have panels on them – or will.
![cardinal number fifth power of ten cardinal number fifth power of ten](https://image.recreationalvehiclemarket.com/vehicle-2016-New-Forest-River-Cardinal-3850RL-Fifth-Wheel-in-Minnesota-MN-116838194-56956168b33a22762e0f29a9.jpg)
That means not all 54,692 acres actually have solar panels on them. There’s no rule of thumb, though, for what percentage of a site is “under panel,” and what percentage is buffer – it varies by developer and by parcel and by relevant local zoning ordinances. It reports that it has issued permits for 54,692 acres, but that figure doesn’t distinguish between the number of acres with solar panels and the total size of the site – there’s typically a buffer around the arrays. The Department of Environmental Quality deals with small solar operations – less than 150 megawatts. The State Corporation Commission deals with large solar farms – anything more than 150 megawatts – but it doesn’t have figures for how many acres have been approved. Virginia’s tobacco production had fallen by about half even before the surgeon general’s landmark report in 1964 warning that smoking tobacco causes cancer.įinding the number of acres of solar farms proved more difficult. That also means tobacco’s been on the decline in Virginia for more than eight decades. That’s just a shadow of the state’s peak of 172,100 acres of tobacco in 1939. Department of Agriculture tells us that last year Virginia farmers harvested 15,030 acres of the golden leaf. The answer to this involved more math than I was expecting but is potentially revealing.įirst, let us praise government statisticians for providing the data that help us understand the world around us in a factual kind of way. I recently went to a meeting in South Boston and took Virginia 40 east out of Rocky Mount, which skirts south of the Smith Mountain Lake dam and then heads east through Penhook, Gretna and lots of lots of countryside.Ī) a murky waterway with the colorful name of Stinking River (clearly not named by the chamber of commerce).ī) a homemade yard sign that declared “secede.”Īll that made me wonder many things but mostly: Does Virginia really now have more solar than tobacco in the heart of what once had been tobacco country?