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Lawmakers grapple with Virginia’s increasing energy demand
Virginia faces a dilemma. Data center developers are clamoring to build in Virginia with the sort of zeal typically reserved for hipsters attempting to win admittance into secret speakeasies. Residents of some Virginia localities have fought mightily against data center growth, citing environmental concerns and increased demand for electricity, and county and state politicians have […]
Power up
In October 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office awarded Dominion Energy a grant of $33.7 million to help make the state’s electrical grid more efficient. The funds, provided through the department’s $3.5 billion Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program, will support increasing battery storage capacity in rural communities and facilitating[...]
Broadband, renewable energy focuses for rural development, USDA administrator says
Rural communities can improve their economy and quality of life, Andrew Berke, administrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service, stressed during the opening of the fifth annual Investing in Rural America conference, held Tuesday at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center. The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond hosts the two-day Investing in […]
Dominion pitches new solar projects to SCC
Dominion Energy is pitching the State Corporation Commission on several solar projects that could generate enough carbon-free electricity to power nearly 200,000 homes. The projects, presented in the Fortune 500 utility‘s fourth annual clean energy filing with the state, include six solar projects totaling 337 megawatts and 13 power purchase agreements totaling 435 megawatts with […]
Dominion pitches state on $70M battery storage pilot
Dominion Energy Virginia is asking the state to allow it to test two technologies that it says could lengthen the time its batteries can electrify the grid from an average of four hours to longer than four days. In a 117-page filing made Monday with the State Corporation Commission, Dominion said its Darbytown Storage Pilot […]
Gathering power
While working on a cellular tower a few years back, Kyle Mullins got what he describes as the “call of a lifetime” — an invitation to work on the first two pilot wind turbines for Dominion Energy‘s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. A Navy veteran who received a telecommunications technical certification from Texas A&M University, […]
Balance of power
Chris Rawlings was a mechanic who wanted to be a pilot. He left the Marine Corps in 2008 after deploying twice to Iraq, where he supervised an aircraft maintenance team, going on to perform similar duties as a civilian contractor in a hangar at Fort Eustis. But his plan was to get back into the […]
Fairfax solar/roofing contractor aims to add 400+ jobs
McLean-based solar energy and roofing contractor SmartRoof is relocating to Reston, with plans to add 410 jobs during the next five years, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Monday. Founded in 2006, SmartRoof is a residential and commercial roofing contractor that also offers solar energy systems. It serves customers in Northern Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Eastern Pennsylvania, […]
Dominion proposes new solar, storage projects
Dominion Energy Virginia has proposed 23 new solar and energy storage projects that could power more than 200,000 Virginia homes at peak output. The utility provider proposed the projects in its third annual clean energy filing with the Virginia State Corporation Commission on Friday. If approved, they will provide more than 800 megawatts of carbon-free […]
Charlotte County approves Va.’s largest solar farm
The largest solar project in Charlotte County — and Virginia, according to Dominion Energy Inc. — was approved by the county’s Board of Supervisors in July. Reston-based utility-scale solar developer SolUnesco LLC received a conditional-use permit to build the $800 million to $1.6 billion Randolph Solar project in the southern part of the county. SolUnesco […]
Accelerating the solar workforce
When local school systems decided to add solar arrays to their buildings, regional environmental nonprofit Appalachian Voices and other members of the Solar Workgroup of Southwest Virginia counted it as a victory in their six-year efforts to develop a renewable energy cluster in Virginia’s coalfield counties. In January, Southwest Virginia Community College and Mountain Empire […]
Frederick solar farms move forward
Frederick County is on the verge of seeing its first solar power farms. Three facilities are in the works, with another in the pipeline. That’s not to say Virginia’s northernmost county is exactly embracing fields of solar panels. “Solar farms change the character of the land from rolling fields and animals grazing in pastures to […]
