BOTETOURT COUNTY, Va. – Google and Apex Clean Energy are set to purchase all of the electricity generated by Rocky Forge Wind, a wind farm in Botetourt County that will create up to 250 jobs during construction.
The 79.3-megawatt project is Virginia’s first onshore wind farm and is slated to significantly boost investment in Southwest Virginia, generating approximately $30 million in state and local tax revenue over the lifetime of the facility.
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The project will use General Electric wind turbines and is expected to generate enough energy to power up to 21,000 U.S. homes annually, with commercial operations set to begin in 2026.
The project has received VDOT approvals for both the onsite construction as well as the off-site construction plans necessary to upgrade the roads for the equipment delivery. There are a series of subdivision plans associated with the road plans, that are all able to be approved once the county signs off on the off-site road plans.
All other administrative approvals are still outstanding, but Botetourt County is working directly with Apex, internal and external reviewers on remaining items, such as the construction plan approvals and receipt of required supplemental information and sureties, to ensure compliance with the county codes as well as the conditions required by the Board of Supervisor’s granting of the Special Exception Permit. We also are processing the Land Disturbance Permit required prior to the start of any construction.
Tiffany Bradbury, Director of Communications for Botetourt County
This partnership is the second between Apex and Google, following the agreement for Timbermill Wind in North Carolina.
“Rocky Forge represents a new chapter in Virginia’s energy transition, delivering lasting economic and environmental benefits to Apex’s home state while advancing Google’s sustainability goals,” said Eamon Perrel, Apex executive vice president of business development. “Google—alongside many key stakeholders over the years—enabled this milestone, demonstrating the power of partnership in accelerating the shift to clean energy.”
Amanda Peterson Corio, Google’s head of data center energy went on to add: “As we continue to progress towards our goal to operate every Google campus on clean electricity every hour of every day by 2030, we are always looking for opportunities to accelerate the delivery of new clean power to the grid,” said Amanda Peterson Corio, Google head of data center energy. “The Rocky Forge Wind project builds on our strong collaboration with Apex Clean Energy to both support decarbonizing our operations in Virginia and the broader PJM grid system.”
We will continue to update this story as we learn more
