Google will purchase all of the electricity that is expected to be produced by the Rocky Forge Wind project in Botetourt County, the project’s developer said Wednesday.
The planned 79.3-megawatt facility on North Mountain, near the border of Botetourt and Rockbridge counties, is expected to begin operating in 2026, according to its developer, Charlottesville-based Apex Clean Energy. It would be Virginia’s first onshore wind farm.
The project was first announced in 2014. It has been delayed by factors including lawsuits over the project’s impact on scenic views and the environment; the COVID-19 pandemic; efforts to find a buyer for its electricity; and changes to its design, which now calls for 13 turbines that are each 643 feet tall, according to The Roanoke Times.
“Rocky Forge represents a new chapter in Virginia’s energy transition, delivering lasting economic and environmental benefits to Apex’s home state while advancing Google’s sustainability goals,” Eamon Perrel, Apex Clean Energy’s executive vice president of business development, said in a news release.
An Apex Clean Energy spokesperson did not respond to a message Wednesday seeking information on the project’s current cost estimate or when the company expects construction to begin.
The Rocky Forge project still requires some government approvals.
The Virginia Department of Transportation has approved on-site and off-site construction necessary to upgrade roads for equipment delivery, and related plans for the property can be approved once the county signs off on the off-site road plans, Botetourt County spokesperson Tiffany Bradbury said in an email on Wednesday.
Bradbury said Botetourt County continues to work with Apex on other matters, including a review of the project’s construction plan and ensuring that the project complies with county codes as well as other conditions required by the county’s board of supervisors.
According to Apex Clean Energy, the wind farm will generate up to 250 jobs during its construction and about $30 million in state and local tax revenue over its lifetime.
Google will use the power it purchases to support its data centers in Virginia, according to the news release. The company has a goal of using carbon-free energy 24/7 by 2030.
“As we continue to progress towards our goal to operate every Google campus on clean electricity every hour of every day by 2030, we are always looking for opportunities to accelerate the delivery of new clean power to the grid,” Amanda Peterson Corio, Google’s head of data center energy, said in the release.
The wind farm project is supported by groups including the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the Sierra Club and the Virginia Conservation Legacy Fund.
In 2019, Dominion Energy announced that it would purchase Rocky Forge’s output and use it to power state-owned buildings and facilities. The electric utility declined to renew that agreement when the deal expired at the end of 2021.
Google’s agreement to purchase Rocky Forge’s power marks the second such collaboration between it and Apex Clean Energy. Last year, Apex announced that the tech giant would purchase the energy output of the 189-megawatt Timbermill Wind facility in North Carolina. That project remains under construction, but some of its turbines began producing electricity last month, according to the Chowan Herald.