Advanced Energy Perspectives

Solar array atop the Weinstein Center for Recreation and Wellness at the University of Richmond. 

As we’ve reported before, companies across the country are increasingly looking to advanced energy to meet their electricity needs, and in Virginia, the story is no different. A new AEE state market brief shows that unleashing this demand would bring huge benefits to the Commonwealth, including significant investment and development activity. With the renewable energy tariff of Dominion Virginia Power, the Commonwealth’s largest investor-owned utility, expiring at the beginning of April, Virginia has a chance to do just that. The question legislators and regulators need to ask themselves now is this: How can Virginia expand and improve options for renewable energy procurement to attract and retain top corporate citizens and reap the jobs and economic benefits that come with a dynamic renewable energy market?

Two months after the Supreme Court voted to stay enforcement of the Clean Power Plan (CPP), utilities across the country are preparing for compliance undeterred, spurred on by the inevitability of a lower-carbon, advanced energy future. In fact, many utilities are moving in that direction already. And for the rest, given that their investment decisions are made on a time horizon much longer than the Supreme Court’s stay, ignoring the CPP would be neither prudent nor practical. Judging by their public statements, utilities are baking the CPP into their future plans.