However, the quote did not mention warranty or maintenance information for the installation work. All utility customers in Virginia, regardless of which utility serves them, will participate in paying for this through a non-bypassable charge. HB 2611 (Poindexter) would prohibit Virginia from joining or participating in RGGI without support from two-thirds of the members of the House and Senate, making it sort of an anti-Virginia Coastal Protection Act. Legislation this year raises the cap on PPAs. Ive hot-linked the bills discussed here, but you can also find them all online pretty easily.
Other bills that would have opened up the market failed in the Republican-controlled (and utility-friendly) Commerce and Labor committees. In addition,HB1451(Sullivan) is a stand-alone RPS bill that also includes an energy storage mandate. Many different variables will influence the exact cost of materials, installation, and labor for your solar panel system. The program was poorly designed and got no takers.
HB981 (the RGGI bill) specifies that a portion of the funds raised by auctioning carbon allowances will fund efficiency programs. (Recognizing a number of problems with this approach, Senator Marsden rolled his bill into SB851; thats GA-speak for killing a bill while still giving the patron points for trying).
Like onshore wind, offshore windstill hasnt taken off in Virginia. Six percent of utilitys peak-load from previous year (including 1% Low-to-Middle-Income carve out), Seven percent of utilitys peak-load from previous year, Standby charges for residential systems greater than 15 kW. While that particular renewable energy tariff was more an effort to close off competition from Direct Energy than to serve the needs of customers, Dominion seems serious about finding solar options for large customers. (Amended with a substitute; it now looks a lot like SB629. Appalachian Power is looking to add 25 MW of solar in Virginia or West Virginia by the end of 2019. Reaching a resolution that allows the private solar market to grow will require taking the top off the box and valuing benefits as well as costs. They all became tasty morsels designed to offset legislators queasiness over the ratepayer rip-off and, not incidentally, to maneuver advocates and bill patrons into supporting Dominions bill as the only way to get their own legislation passed into law.
Getting started with solar in Virginia is as simple as scheduling a free, 5-minute initial phone consultation with our team of specialists.
HB 2332 (Keam) protects customer data collected by utilities while allowing the use of aggregated anonymous data for energy efficiency and demand-side management efforts. . Localities can also help residents and businesses go solar by promoting solar coops like Solarize NoVa, offering low-cost financing via commercial PACE loans(as Arlington is doing), and setting expectations for developers. But not all coops do this.
HB1303 (Hurst) and SB549 (Newman) direct DMME to develop a strategic plan for the role of nuclear energy in moving toward renewable and carbon-free energy. Dominion Energy Virginia and its fellows see rooftop solar as a threat to their monopoly power that needs to be curtailed, not a contribution to our energy security that they should encourage.
But then he added that we couldnt get started on it without advances in battery storage, because, he said, without storage there is no way to put surplus wind and solar on the grid. SB94(Favola) andHB714 (Reid) rewrites the Commonwealth Energy Policy to bring it in line with Virginias commitment to dealing with climate change, and even to challenge leaders to do more.
Sea level rise is already taking a toll in Virginia with sunny day flooding regularly crippling low-lying areas of Hampton Roads. The SCC has not yet ruled on either program, so it is not clear when, or if, Dominion and APCo will implement these renewable energy tariffs. But Dominions entry into the retail solar business could ultimately be good for independent installers.
HB 2738 (Bagby) and SB 1695 (Wagner) authorizes utilities to acquire rights of way on land that the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Authority decides could attract new customers to the site, and allows utilities to recover costs from existing customers. That points to the other advantage Maryland and DC have over Virginia: pro-solar policies. ), Net metering HB1067(Kory) deals with a specific situation where a customer has solar on one side of property divided by a public right-of-way, with the electric meter to be served by the solar array on the other side. ), SB542(Edwards) repeals the sunset date on crowdfunding provisions and provides fixes for certain existing obstacles to this financing approach. In this post, I cover just the renewable energy bills of general interest filed to date, saving energy efficiency, storage, EVs and climate for later.
Its why, over the past year, developers have proposed more than 1,600 MW of additional solar capacity in counties across the state. The bill also requires suppliers of electricity to obtain at least 25% of sales from renewable energy by 2025, 50% by 2030, and 100% by 2050.
(Note that this cost recovery review typically happens after the fact, i.e., once a pipeline has been built and placed into service.)
The rate shall be set such that the shared solar program results in robust project development and shared solar program access for all customer classes. Further, the Commission shall annually calculate the applicable bill credit rate as the effective retail rate of the customers rate class, which shall be inclusive of all supply charges, delivery charges, demand charges, fixed charge, and any applicable riders or other charges to the customer., While the Solar Freedom provision is restricted to multifamily residential buildings, the General Assembly also passed legislation more generally allowing for third-party owned community solar, rebranded as shared solar.. HB 1635 (Rasoul, with 9 co-patrons) imposes a moratorium on fossil fuel projects, including export facilities, gas pipelines and related infrastructure, refineries and fossil fuel exploration; requires utilities to use clean energy sources for 80% of electricity sales by 2028, and 100% by 2036; and requires the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy to develop a (really) comprehensive climate action plan, which residents are given legal standing to enforce by suit.
A similar bill,HB20(Lindsey), was incorporated into HB981. HB 1686 (Reid, with 14 co-patrons) and SB 1648 (Boysko) bans new or expanded fossil fuel generating plants until Virginia has those 5,500 MW of renewable energy we were promised. In 2015 Amazon Web Services stunned us all by announcing an 80 MW facility. The SCC determines this rate by looking first at the average returns of peer group utilities, and then often going higher. Two Virginia rural electric cooperatives offer programs that come close.
Stillman says net metering is critical to keeping the program simple enough for the average homeowner to understand.
December 28, 2015. (Passed the House 65-33 with a substitute. In fact, because Virginia offers an excellent net metering program, most residents choose a grid-tied solar energy system as opposed to a battery-reliant, or off-grid, system. Solar advocates have introduced enabling legislation for several years running, but it has been defeated every year in the face of utility opposition. In the fall of 2017, Facebook negotiated its own terms with Dominion for 130 MW of a 300 MW solar project. It remains to be seen whether that will happen. Advocates have asked the Governor to sign the first three bills but not the fourth. HB 1252 (Kilgore) replaces the existing pilot, which has different rules for Dominion and APCo, with a new program renamed net metering power purchase agreements that would be consistent for both utilities. Yeah, sure . Efforts began in 2013 with the Small Solar Working Group, a broad stakeholder group facilitated by DEQ. According to EnergySage, as of 2020, the average cost to install residential solar panels in Virginia ranged from $12,325 to $16,675 after solar tax credits.
), HB1656(OQuinn) authorizes Dominion and APCo to design incentives for low-income people, the elderly, and disable persons to install energy efficiency and renewable energy, to be paid for by a rate adjustment clause.
), HB573(Keam) affects the utility-controlled and operated community solar programs required by 2017 legislation. (HB414 passed the House 95-4. PACE is not available for residential customers. %%EOF
It tightens provisions governing utilities keeping of overearnings and provides for the allowed rate of return to be based on the cost of providing service instead of letting our utilities make what all the other monopolists make (peer group analysis). Not shown: the 50 guys with muskets making darn sure the lions dont try anything.
The Dominion Energy web pageon distributed generation still mentions it, but the link does not lead to more information (and didnt last year either). Hostile is more the word that springs to mind. Commercial customers are limited to 1,000 kW, no matter how much space they have or how much electricity they use.
The gas it will carry is extracted from shale formations deep underground using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a loud, dirty and dangerous practice that doesnt poll well in Virginia.
For the same reason, make sure you click on the latest version of the bills text. So few bills survived the Finance and Commerce and Labor Committees that it will be easier to talk about what is left than what got killed.
Here is what you need to know about the hot-button energy issues in Virginia today. Name recognition goes a long way in marketing, and a lot of customers will want the security of knowing Dominion Energy isnt likely to take the money and disappear into the night. See our Full Service Area here, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW 6th Floor, Washington, DC 20036, 2021 Ipsun Power Inc. dba Ipsun Solar All rights reserved, https://law.lis.virginia.gov/admincode/title20/agency5/chapter315/section30/. This year Central Virginia Electric Cooperative(CVEC) launched a 4 MW program. In cases where the electric distribution company or energy service provider requests a waiver, a copy of the request for waiver must be mailed simultaneously by the requesting party to the prospective customer and to the commission's Division of Energy Regulation. But, sadly, we arent anywhere near there yet.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning), Machine Tools, Metalworking and Metallurgy, Aboriginal, First Nations & Native American, committed to sustainable, reliable, affordable and safe energy. SB817(Lewis) declares that nuclear energy is considered a clean energy source for purposes of the Commonwealth Energy Policy.
Sign the Virginia Declaration of Solar Rights and help expand net metering in the state. HB 1018, offering a tax credit for energy storage devices, passed a House Finance subcommittee last week with an amendment to delay its start date to 2020.
Any surplus accrued during each 12-month billing cycle may be carried overindefinitely, or homeowners may choose to sell the electricity back to the utility provider at the end of the 12-month period. Recognizing this reality, Delegate Mark Keam has introduced HB 392, which declares it in the public interest for the Commonwealth to get 10% of its electricity from solar, and raises to 15,000 MW the amount of utility solar in the public interest. RICHMOND, Va., Jan. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) today approved, subject to certain requirements, Phase II of the Grid Transformation Plan (GT Plan), the Company's ten-year plan to transform the electric distribution grid. No, this definitely was NOT a "stupid waste of time," as crazy bigot/theocrat Marco Rubio said https://bluevirginia.us/2022/07/wednesday-news-europe-is-burning-like-its-2052-secret-services-explanations-wont-wash-government-by-manchin-must-come-to-an-end-md-gop-picks-trump-backed-big-lie-c#comment-5923754863 h/t @RepRiggleman, FACT SHEET: President Bidens Executive Actions on Climate to Address Extreme Heat and Boost Offshore Wind ("New Actions to Accelerate Clean Energy, Create Jobs, and Lower Costs") https://bluevirginia.us/2022/07/fact-sheet-president-bidens-executive-actions-on-climate-to-address-extreme-heat-and-boost-offshore-wind. [A downloadable PDF of this guide is available here.]. "This is another major step forward in building a clean energy economy in Virginia. ), HB1677(Keam) replaces Virginias current vertically-integrated monopoly structure with one based on competition and consumer choice. Rider VCS will be available to all retail customers at a premium of about 2.01 cents/kWh in the first year. This seems to have been done as a favor to Dominion by then-governor Terry McAuliffe, as a way to move the Remington project forward, and I wouldnt expect to see it repeated.
Non-discrimination policy | ), SB1061(Petersen) allows residential customers to qualify for local government Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing programs for renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements; currently the availability of this financing tool is restricted to commercial customers. This approval aligns with the customer-focused, state regulated utility framework in Virginia.
Some Senate bills will go to Finance.
In many cases, homeowners can trim trees where they are causing direct shade to the rooftop of the home and still get all of the benefits of solar power. ), HB1707(Aird) makes changes to the Clean Energy Advisory Board, which is (already) authorized to administer public grant funding. Subscribers can lock in the rate for 20 years, one of the most attractive features of community solar.
As currently drafted it is so ambitious that it would likely mean utilities would have to buy a lot of Renewable Energy Certificates from out of state to meet the early year targets, but changes to the bill may be in the works. (Passed the Senate 38-1. But a lot of these bills have the same problem theyve always had. HB234(Mugler) establishes a Division of Offshore Wind within the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy. The bill requires that an investor-owned utility shall not select an eligible generating facility that is located outside a low-income community for dedication to its pilot program unless the investor-owned utility contemporaneously selects for dedication to its pilot program one or more eligible generating facilities that are located within a low-income community and of which the pilot program costs equal or exceed the pilot program costs of the eligible generating facility that is located outside a low-income community. (Passed the House 90-8.
HJ 656 (Delaney) would have the Virginia Resources Authority study the process of transitioning Virginias workforce from fossil-fuel jobs to green energy jobs.
Thats what its captive ratepayers are for. People around the room look dumbfounded. This is a polite way of killing a bill without anyone having to vote on it).
This year, try as I might to be cynical and gloomy (and I do make a good effort), I see mostly blue skies.
Virginia allows the Governor to propose amendments, so what you see here may not be the final word.
The bills appear to have the same language that is in the Clean Economy Act.
