BOTETOURT COUNTY, Va. – Virginia’s first onshore wind farm is no longer just a vision. The Rocky Forge Wind Project, located along North Mountain in Botetourt County, is now visibly under construction — with turbines already standing as the project moves closer to producing power later this year.
At a signing event Saturday, developers and community leaders marked the milestone by signing a turbine blade as construction continues.
A decade in the making
The project has been years in the works, facing a series of starts and stops before finally breaking ground.
“It’s so exciting because it’s been 10 years of start, stop, up, down, difficult, good, you know, and now it’s happening,” said Dan Crawford, chair of the Sierra Club Roanoke Group.
Ken Young, CEO of Apex Clean Energy, said construction is progressing on schedule.
“We have two installed completely already, ... 11 more to go ... And then, we’ll begin the collection work,” Young said.
A deal that cleared the path
The road to construction wasn’t without controversy.
Residents raised concerns about environmental impacts and where the energy generated by the project would ultimately go.
A key turning point came in 2024, when Botetourt County’s Google data center signed a power purchase agreement with Apex Clean Energy — a deal developers say made construction possible.
Crawford acknowledged his worries about the arrangement.
“I am gravely concerned about data centers for a variety of reasons and one of them is their power consumption, but at least when they bought the power it opened the door for our first wind farm,” he said.
Local benefits, lasting impact
Botetourt County Administrator Gary Larrowe says the project represents a significant step toward cleaner, locally generated power.
“This is 79.3 megawatts, which is a lot of power that will be generated here locally and should end up benefiting AI and other things in the future,” Larrowe said.
Once fully operational, the Rocky Forge Wind Project is expected to generate enough energy to power more than 20,000 homes.
It is also projected to produce up to $25 million in tax revenue over its lifetime — making it one of Botetourt County’s largest taxpayers.
“The project will yield almost a million dollars a year to Botetourt County on net ... and so that money will be used to benefit the local needs within the community,” Larrowe said.
With turbines now visible from parts of Botetourt County, the conversation is shifting from what the project might look like to what kind of impact it will have on the region once it begins producing power later this year.
Rocky Forge Wind Project at a Glance:
- 2024 deal means power produced by wind farm will help generate power for the county’s Google data center.
- Enough clean energy to power more than 20,000 homes each year
- Expected to reduce emissions equal to taking nearly 24,000 cars off the road annually
- Could generate up to $25 million in local tax revenue
- Has already supported more than 200 construction jobs
- Brought nearly $40 million in business to Virginia companies
- Expected to save billions of gallons of water each year compared to traditional power plants
- Features 13 turbines, each standing taller than a 60-story building
- Each turbine blade is nearly as long as a football field