About Seth Maughan

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So far Seth Maughan has created 7 blog entries.

Helping Middle School Students Explore Solar Technology at Locust Grove Middle School

By |2018-06-08T10:01:15-04:00June 7th, 2018|Charitable Giving, Company Update, News, Virginia Solar|

By Seth Maughan At SolUnesco, “community” is one of our core values, and we make it a goal to give back to the communities in which we operate. As such, we were thrilled to recently support the learning of solar concepts at Locust Grove Middle School. The school is located just down the street from the Madison Solar Farm, a proposed 400-acre, 60-MW solar farm, on which SolUnesco worked to get zoning approval from the County last year. On May

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Embracing Solar Can Attract Business Investment to Virginia

By |2018-05-18T14:43:10-04:00May 17th, 2018|Industry, News, Southeast, Virginia Solar|

By Seth Maughan Earlier this Spring, Microsoft announced some big news. The Company broadcast "the single largest corporate purchase of solar energy ever in the United States." On the heels of two large purchases in Singapore and India, Microsoft closed a deal to purchase 315 megawatts (MW) of solar in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This purchase brings Microsoft closer to the Company’s goal of having their data centers rely 60% on renewable energy by 2020. Governor Northam praised the deal,

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Community Engagement Wins Board Approval for SolUnesco’s Orange County Solar Project

By |2018-03-01T23:16:47-05:00December 20th, 2017|Company Update, Virginia Solar|

As solar developers, we believe in our mission and the positive impacts of our work. Even so, we should never assume that a community will embrace a new solar energy generating plant. Local permitting can be the most precarious stage of utility-scale solar development. It’s the only stage where the people who decide your project’s fate don’t follow a uniform rubric. A county official may be able to deny your project for any reason. As a result, politics and emotion

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Fiscal Impact on the County: How does Solar Compare to other Land Uses?

By |2018-06-21T11:07:00-04:00September 11th, 2017|Industry, Land Use, Virginia Solar|

This post references research and analysis from an original SolUnesco white paper, which can be downloaded in full, here. Much has been said about the recent plummeting costs of solar technology, and the corresponding ability for utility-scale projects to legitimately compete with more conventional forms of generation. While this is certainly a reality, it is also conditional. Solar profit margins are generally still too slim to overcome less-than-ideal project conditions. The most elemental development ingredient is land; in order to

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Rick Perry and the DoE, What Does it Mean For Renewables?

By |2018-03-02T00:11:30-05:00January 25th, 2017|Industry|

When Donald Trump tapped Texas Governor Rick Perry to lead the U.S. Department of Energy, many critics were quick to respond. We were reminded of the time when, during one of his own unsuccessful presidential bids, Gov. Perry vowed to eliminate the DOE, then forgot its name on national television. It has also been pointed out that he does not come with the same scientific expertise as former DOE heads; for example, his BS in Animal Science does not quite

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U.S. Solar Jobs Outnumber U.S. Coal Jobs… By A Lot!

By |2018-08-10T14:44:57-04:00January 18th, 2017|Virginia Solar|

This month, the Department of Energy released the “U.S. Energy and Employment Report”, an annual report that highlights employment data and trends for each of the energy sectors. While the report concedes that the solar industry employment data is difficult to measure, it suggests that the solar industry may have added 73,000 jobs in the past year, bringing total solar jobs to 373,000. To put this into perspective; the same DOE report puts U.S. coal jobs at roughly 86,000, total.

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Virginia’s Attorney General Offers Support to Clean Power Plan

By |2018-03-02T00:17:08-05:00January 11th, 2017|Industry, Policy|

In February, the fate of the Clean Power Plan (CPP) was put into question when the Supreme Court put a stay on the rule, pending a judicial review. With the upcoming administration change, the question mark has grown. On December 28, those of us in Virginia learned bit about where our leadership stands when Attorney General Mark Herring affixed his name to an open letter to Donald Trump, urging him to “continue the federal government’s defense of the Clean Power

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