Roanoke City Public Schools announced Tuesday that it had been awarded a grant from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to upgrade its emergency shelter capacity at Patrick Henry and William Fleming High Schools by building a solar-powered microgrid.

The Local Energy Alliance Program and the City of Roanoke have launched a new program that intends to make solar power more accessible to locals.

Looking to go solar?

The proposed solar energy farm in Franklin County near Smith Mountain Lake is on hold as county leaders work to figure out the fine print.

PULASKI COUNTY, Va. – A solar power plant is now one step closer to becoming a reality in Pulaski County. The county’s Board of Supervisors held a public hearing Monday night and voted to approve a special use permit allowing farmland to be leased for the project. This comes after months of debate and lots of public comment on both sides. Now, the county can apply for the second-largest industrial-scale solar farm in Virginia and the third largest on the East Coast. The county expects to have the solar panels up and running within two years.