Through financing and technical assistance provided by Locus Impact, an Appalachian Community Capital member, Carilion New River Medical Center in rural Christiansburg, Virginia, population 22,000, became the first solar-powered hospital in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Secure Solar Futures, LLC, a Virginia limited liability company specializing in commercial scale solar development, received financing to build a 1.3 megawatt solar farm. This solar farm now generates 17% of the hospital’s annual energy requirements.
It is predicted that this installation of 4,000 panels will significantly contribute to cleaner air and reduce costs for the hospital – an estimated decrease of 3.2 million pounds of pollution per year and an estimated $3.5 million savings in energy costs over the life of the project
These savings help Carilion provide millions of dollars per year of community benefits to residents in the rural Roanoke Valley. As a bonus, the solar farm doubles as a sheep pasture, further increasing economic output for the farming community while lowering maintenance costs with the sheep mowers.
