Quarry Heights development unanimously approved • Agrisolar zoning amendment unanimously denied • A bill to ban investment firms from buying Virginia homes • Who benefits from data centers?
Thanks, Zamua. The land use changes are decided by city council. If the property owner wants to do something different than what is allowed by-right, they need to request a rezoning from the city.
Utility solar farms (as opposed to community solar, like the one on Acorn Drive in Harrisonburg) are take up large expanses of land. One 100-megawatt (MW) data center requires approximately about 1,500 acres of solar panels to produce the energy required to run the center during the day. Data centers run 24-7 365 days per year, so the power to run them at night and on cloudy days would need to come from somewhere else, like a methane gas powered plant.
interesting thanks! this also probably not a simple answer but how are the decisions made? is the council aiming to hit some metrics or something?
wow 1500 acres 😅, i can see why one would be hesitant about that. the idea i guess is straightforwardly just about land being a scarce resource and choosing wisely how to use it
awesome post! i have some naive questions
1. how are land sales decided? who gets to decide if land can be sold for solar farms vs restaurants vs warehouses etc
2. what is the negative externality of a solar farm?
Thanks, Zamua. The land use changes are decided by city council. If the property owner wants to do something different than what is allowed by-right, they need to request a rezoning from the city.
Utility solar farms (as opposed to community solar, like the one on Acorn Drive in Harrisonburg) are take up large expanses of land. One 100-megawatt (MW) data center requires approximately about 1,500 acres of solar panels to produce the energy required to run the center during the day. Data centers run 24-7 365 days per year, so the power to run them at night and on cloudy days would need to come from somewhere else, like a methane gas powered plant.
https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/environmental-impacts-solar-power
interesting thanks! this also probably not a simple answer but how are the decisions made? is the council aiming to hit some metrics or something?
wow 1500 acres 😅, i can see why one would be hesitant about that. the idea i guess is straightforwardly just about land being a scarce resource and choosing wisely how to use it