Here’s a quick word-association game: Virginia.

Do you think about tobacco? Sure. What about solar power? Probably not. That’s because Virginia’s clean energy infrastructure is lagging behind many other states despite the fact that the region gets more than ample sunshine to necessitate solar energy.

But Virginia is finding a way to marry what it’s known for—tobacco—with what could be the unlikely future power source of the state: solar energy.

Here’s a little background.

A couple things happened in the late 1990s. First, tobacco companies were sued by almost every state in the union, and lost a ton of money. And second, states like Virginia, whose dependence on the lucrative tobacco market had been the driving center behind the economy, saw an intense decrease in production. Although the suit was good for some citizens’ health, it was bad for business in the south.

Knowing that states like Virginia would suffer because of the case, local governments set up funds that would directly benefit from monies that were allocated by the suit to be used for economic growth. The Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission was founded in 1999, and has since been distributing grants out to local projects.

The Virginia Tobacco Commission recently awarded Dominion Virginia Power, one of the states utility companies, a $5 million grant for a 50-acre, 4 megawatt solar power facility in Halifax County, Va.

"This grant is the kick-start to what would be the largest solar project in Virginia," said Mary C. Doswell, senior vice president-Alternative Energy Solutions for Dominion, in a company press release. "We know that it will take all forms of energy, including renewable forms such as this facility, to meet the growing demand for electricity from our customers."

The $35 million facility will likely be completed in 2012, pending approval from the Virginia State Corporation Commission.

According to PJM Interconnection, the transmission company that operates the grid in Virginia, Dominion's service area is expected to have strong growth in demand in the next few years—2.5 percent. As a result, Dominion applied for the grant back in June, which was finally approved on Oct. 28.

Not only will the solar facility ease the regions electricity demand, but the construction of the plant will require an estimated 100 workers, which will also ease some of the unemployment woes of the state, hovering around 7 percent as of August 2010.

"We want to go forward with this project to demonstrate a utility-scale solar and advanced energy storage project that can effectively manage, store, and optimize solar energy to regulate intermittency, enable peak shaving and increase grid reliability," said Doswell in the release. "We also are looking to create jobs and promote rural economic development in the tobacco region of Virginia."

Pictured: The same sun that grew these tobacco plants will, one day, fuel the region's power needs. All of this made possible by the death and disease these plants cause. It's complicated.