Four beehives have been placed at Black Bear Solar in Buckingham County. (Photo courtesy Dominion Energy)
Bees are the newest animals to join the team at Dominion Energy’s solar farms.
A pilot project placing beehives at Black Bear Solar in Buckingham County is meant to help increase the pollinator population and crop production. The agrivoltaic project is similar in spirit to a 2023 pilot that introduced sheep to solar farms to manage vegetation. Today, it’s an official program at three sites, which includes 361 acres in Chesapeake.
Four hives, hosting about 180,000 bees in total, were added in August in partnership with Chuck Burden of Midlothian-based Mountain House Apiaries. If the pilot succeeds, the number of hives could double by this spring.
“We’re very excited to welcome bees to Black Bear,” Dominion spokesperson Tim Eberly says. “The beehive project is an ideal pairing for a solar farm. Both are environmentally friendly, so we’re generating clean, pollution-free energy at Black Bear while helping increase the pollinator population to the benefit of nearby farmers.”
