Virginia’s House of Representatives and Senate passed legislation that will triple the amount of energy storage capacity the state requires its two public utilities to procure under the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA). The legislation will become law unless Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoes the legislation by Friday, May 2.
Passed in 2020, the VCEA requires Virginia’s two public utilities Dominion and Appalachian Power to have a combined target to add 3,100 MW of energy storage capacity by the end of 2035. It also gave Dominion until 2045 and Appalachian until 2050 to supply electricity from only carbon-neutral sources.
The new legislation changes that benchmark, requiring Appalachian Power to petition for at least 780 MW of short-duration capacity by 2040 and 520 MW of long-duration energy storage capacity by 2045. The legislation will require Dominion to petition for at least 5,220 MW of short-duration energy storage capacity and 3,480 MW of long-duration energy storage capacity by 2045. This brings the total energy storage capacity required between the two utilities to 10,000 MW, more than triple the state’s current target.
Del. Richard “Rip” Sullivan, who sponsored the House version of the bills, said supporting energy storage facilities can “help smooth out the highs and lows of electricity demand and could potentially reduce the need for new power plants.”
“With the long-term benefits of this technology, it’s important that Virginia find ways to attract these technologies into the commonwealth, and it’s my belief that the act of passing this bill will go a long way in doing that,” Del. Sullivan said at the House subcommittee meeting earlier this year.
The legislation’s House version passed mostly along party lines, with 54 voting in favor and 44 voting against it. The senate version unanimously passed the Senate.
When Virginia signed the VCEA into law in 2020, it became the seventh state to establish a procurement mandate for energy storage. In 2018, Virginia began mandating for utilities to submit annual reports on storage and distributed energy resource technology capacity, investments and projects. Virginia also created the Virginia Solar Energy Development and Energy Authority in 2015, which is set to expire this July.
However, despite its strong legislation, Virginia’s energy storage market is experiencing slow movement, according to Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).
Virginia is ranked 8th for its total solar capacity, with 6.84 GW installed across the state, according to SEIA. Virginia is also ranked 19th for its non-residential distributed generation capacity. With only about 1 MW of energy storage in service, SEIA said the state approved batteries for participation in demand response programs, along with net metering compensation, with the passage of HB 1062 last year.
Last year, Gov. Youngkin signed legislation to create a modest community solar program between Appalachian Power and Dominion Energy.
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