Greenhouse gases study is ‘in the best spirit of our American entrepreneurial heritage’

American Climate Partners and Dominion Energy will announce a multi-year pilot partnership on Thursday.

Formerly known as the Center for Natural Capital in Rapidan, American Climate Partners will work with Dominion to capture carbon in the soil in the company’s largest solar installation at Fort Powhatan, according to a press release.

Measurements of changes in soil carbon caused by the application of biochar which is created from waste wood will occur in the pilot project.

Biochar will be placed under the solar panels and carbon reductions will be measure over four years in the pilot study.

“We are at the dawn of accelerated and deliberate carbon storage in natural areas of the mid-Atlantic region. Our need for all the above climate restoration strategies compels this bold step now,” Al Weed, Chairman of American Climate Partners, said in the press release. “It is in the best spirit of our American entrepreneurial heritage that we will learn much about soil carbon drawdown in Virginia’s natural areas in the years ahead.”

By 2045, the Virginia General Assembly has set a goal for a Net-Zero CO2 economy. All sectors of the economy are encouraged to participate, but, to date, only targets in the energy sector have established the state energy policy.

The Solar Soil Carbon pilot project will enable American Climate Partners to study the capture of already released greenhouse gases in the grass underneath solar installations.

Part of the larger Virginia Grassland Deep Carbon Project launched by American Climate Partners, the organization has made a commitment to embark on actions “to improve the health of the climate and the economy in our rural communities specifically through the use of natural solutions. The Deep Carbon Project intends to help mobilize landowners such as Dominion Energy and others in the agricultural, residential, and commercial sectors to implement products, services, and methods to capture carbon in grassland soils over the next 20 years,” the press release stated.