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Virginia’s solar energy market will be spurred by a partnership among the state, Dominion Virginia Power and Microsoft Corp. to bring a 20-megawatt solar farm to Fauquier County, leaders announced Wednesday at a joint press conference.

The 260,000 panels on 125 acres will represent more solar energy than was available across all of Virginia two years ago.

At 20 megawatts, the project is expected to generate enough solar energy to power 5,000 homes or all six departments that fall under the state’s Secretary of Natural Resources.

Richmond-based Dominion Virginia Power will build and operate the solar facility next to its Remington power plant. It is expected to be up and running by sometime in 2017.

Virginia will buy the electricity through a power purchase agreement, a move that puts the state closer to Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s goal of deriving at least 8 percent of the energy for its buildings from solar during the next three years.

And suburban Seattle-based Microsoft, which like many tech companies has committed to reducing its carbon footprint by using renewable energy, will buy and retire the renewable energy credits from the project.