Charlottesville enters into purchase agreement for solar panels at CHS

Both Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville have adopted greenhouse gas reduction goals and have climate action plans in place to guide to their implementation.

Earlier this month, city government and Charlottesville City Schools announced an agreement for a private company to install, own, and operate solar panels on top of Charlottesville High School. The generated power will be sold to city schools for at least 25 years.

“This project reflects intentional and substantial climate and sustainability work,” said Kristel Riddervold, Charlottesville’s sustainability director, in a April 3 information release. “It demonstrates our community’s understanding and willingness to tackle solutions that will deliver multiple benefits.”

Under the agreement, Madison Energy Infrastructure will install a system that will generate 1,738,000 kilowatts of power a year. According to the release, that will offset 59 percent of the power needs of CHS and will save city schools $2.3 million over the course of the agreement.

The release also claims that panels will reduce emissions by 40,000 metric tons.

Riddervold said that the project is expected to be completed in 2027.

“Project installation schedule will be set once Dominion establishes their schedule for the utility-side upgrades that are required,” Riddervold said in a follow-up email. “The desire it to get the system on-line as quickly as possible, but not to have panels in place that are not operational.”

For a really deep dive on this subject, take a look at some of the resources from a work session City Council had the topic on February 2, 2026.

• Public Policy Briefing
• Power Purchase Agreements for CHS and CMS – Status Update
• Presentation on Power Purchase Agreements

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