The Blake Solar Energy Facility is one of five solar farms/industrial solar projects developed and in operation or slated for Jefferson County, WV. The Blake Solar Energy facility near Charles Town, WV on former farmland is one of West Virginia’s largest new solar projects. The 500-acre project is located at the intersection of Old Charles Town Road (Route 115) and Kabletown Road. It will produce 80 megawatts of energy, enough to power 80-90,000 homes. The developer is OPD Energy (Opdenergy), an independent renewable energy producer headquartered in Spain, along with Horus West Virginia 1, LLC, a Delaware Corporation set up by the developer. Braden Houston is OPD Energy’s managing director of solar development in the U.S. Houston says the project will help diversify and benefit the Jefferson County economy, and bring in sheep herds to graze the land, along with beehives and wildflowers. The project has a 25-40-year lifespan; after that time, it will be up to the new property owner to decide how to use the land. The project is under a long-term power purchase agreement with AEP Energy Partners.
The project has received multiple environmental violation notices from the WV Department of Environmental Protection.
Sources/References:
Coda III, Vanta. Solar on the horizon in Jefferson County. RealWV. February 3, 2024.https://therealwv.com/2024/02/03/solar-on-the-horizon-in-jefferson-county/
Cook, Tim. Breaking Solar Ground: First solar farm project underway without tax break. News article in Spirit of Jefferson. May 31, 2023. https://www.spiritofjefferson.com/news/article_b298ba4c-fff0-11ed-9b42-837291a6c39e.html
Pearson, Steve. Blake Solar Project Receives Multiple Environmental Violation Notices. News article in The WV Independent Observer: Stories of West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle. February 2024. https://wearetheobserver.com/blake-solar-project-receives-multiple-environmental-violation-notices/
Opdenergy closes $252 million project financing package for two solar projects totalling 260 MWDC in West Virginia and Louisiana. Opdenergy Website. October 18, 2023. https://opdenergy.com/en/2023/10/18/opdenergy-cierra-una-financiacion-de-252-millones-de-dolares-para-dos-proyectos-solares-que-suman-260-mw-en-estados-unidos/
- See also OPD Energy Press Release, Opdenergy closes $252 million project financing package for two solar projects totalling 260 MWDC in West Virginia and Louisiana. https://opdenergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/20231710_Press-release-Opdenergy-financial-close-Blake-and-Elizabeth-VDef.pdf
- County of Jefferson, West Virginia, Solar Energy Facility Projects Website https://www.jeffersoncountywv.org/county-government/departments/engineering-planning-and-zoning/office-of-planning-and-zoning/solar-projects
- Link to WV Department of Environmental Protection Notice of Violation: https://wearetheobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/WV-DEP-Blake-2023-08-24-notice.pdf
