Category: Energy
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Biting the Steady Hand That Lights Your House
By Steve Haner Three western Virginia politicians have penned a press release masquerading as a serious proposal. They seek to decertify a major monopoly electric utility which serves 540,000 Virginia accounts, the Appalachian Power Company, a division of American Electric Power. The letter was sent to the State Corporation Commission and then released, with…
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Battery Bills Still Charging Toward Passage
By Steve Haner The Virginia General Assembly is still poised to pass a vastly expanded mandate for future utility battery storage systems, but the bills are no longer passing unanimously. At least some discussion of the ratepayer cost impact has come up in committee and floor discussions since being raised by Bacon’s Rebellion. Most Republicans…
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Trump’s Interior Dept. Asked to Stop Dominion Wind Construction
By Steve Haner Citizens and groups who opposed the push to develop offshore wind under former President Joe Biden have now asked President Donald Trump to rescind even the wind projects already under construction. Dominion Energy Virginia’s $10.7 billion project off Virginia Beach is among those they want to pause and possibly cancel. The…
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CVOW One of Four Wind Projects Not Frozen By Trump. Yet.
by Steve Haner Dominion Energy Virginia’s current offshore wind construction project is one of only four still in the process of building towers and turbines in the wake of an executive order from President Donald Trump. It is also the largest of the survivors, with more planned power output than the other three combined. Coastal…
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A $29 Billion Virginia Battery Bonanza, Unanimous in VA Senate
By Steve Haner Based on current pricing for the present-day energy storage projects, legislation pending at the Virginia General Assembly could cost ratepayers of the two largest electric utilities between $18 billion and $29 billion over the next 20 years. That capital cost, based on the current $300,000 to $500,000 price per megawatt hour for…
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Making VCEA Even More Expensive and Onerous
By Steve Haner The 2024 General Assembly ended with a promise from its majority Democrats to review and perhaps revise the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), which mandates the end of hydrocarbon electricity. The revisions are now pending at the 2025 General Assembly and are uniformly bad. One positive development this session has been an…
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The Real Cost of the RPS Mandate? $609 Million, Money for Nothing
by Steve Haner In a recent debate at the Virginia General Assembly over the growing consumer cost of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, a senior Democratic delegate dismissed concerns over the renewable energy requirement as only involving perhaps $2 per month on a residential customer. The actual amount is $4.69, or about $56 per year,…
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The Expensive Triple Whammy If Dominion Wind Dies
By Steve Haner On its face the executive order President Donald Trump signed to bring a halt to future offshore wind turbines on federal ocean leases did not target the Virginia project underway. Dominion Energy Virginia is reporting it has all the federal permits it needs and will continue pushing toward its late 2026 completion date…
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Dominion Sells Solar Power at a Loss Just to Earn the RECs
By Steve Haner To avoid the financial penalties included in the Virginia Clean Economy Act, Dominion Energy Virginia has sometimes sold solar energy at a loss to earn the related renewable energy credit. It has been paying the regional PJM wholesale energy market to accept the electrons, rather than PJM paying it for the power. …
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Who’s the Biggest Electricity Importer in the Country? Not California
by James A. Bacon Virginia is the biggest importer of electricity in the United States, according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration report released last month. The Old Dominion has surpassed California as the biggest consumer of electricity from other states. Imports into the Land of Nuts and Fruits declined due to heavy investment in…
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Yes, Deficiency Payments May Happen, Dominion Reports to SCC
By Steve Haner Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) in his State of the Commonwealth Address last week described the Virginia Clean Economy Act as a “quagmire.” Later that same day, the director of his Department of Energy warned that the state’s premier electric utility might soon begin making “deficiency payments,” in effect paying fines for failing…
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Celebrate Even Small Wins Over the Green Madness
By Steve Haner Dominion Energy Virginia is in the process of modernizing and upgrading the remaining natural gas fired generator at the controversial Possum Point power plant in Prince William County, seeking to squeeze out an additional 44 megawatts of output in addition to the existing 660 megawatts. Dominion claims it needs the power to…
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Right to Choose Natural Gas Law Proposed Again at Assembly
By Steve Haner Virginia’s General Assembly is being asked again to protect the use of natural gas and prohibit local government efforts to restrict or ban it in homes and businesses. A Senate bill pending at the 2025 session is backed by a large coalition which includes the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy and…
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Black Caucus Wants Fines on 30 Years of Hydrocarbon Use
By Steve Haner Virginia’s Legislative Black Caucus has endorsed legislation that demands oil, natural gas or coal companies that operated in Virginia at any time since 1995 pay a fine (to be determined) for presumed damage to the climate and for extreme weather. Before dismissing this out of hand, know that the State of…
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Is Dominion Facing Fines Over Green Energy Goals?
By Steve Haner The enforcement mechanism for the Virginia Clean Economy Act is a cash fine imposed on the electric utility if it fails to utilize the mandated percentage of wind, solar or battery power. The statute calls it a “deficiency payment” and has set the penalty at $45 per megawatt-hour. The first of such penalty…