As part of the $1 billion Facebook data-center deal, Dominion Energy Virginia will file a request with the State Corporation Commission to create a new kind of solar tariff called Schedule RF. (The RF stands for Renewable Facility.) The tariff, if approved, could be used by other big customers seeking renewable energy.
“We came together with Dominion Energy Virginia to create a new tariff that ensures renewable energy solutions are accessible not just to Facebook, but other companies as well,” said Bobby Hollis, director of Global Energy at Facebook in a press release issued last week. The tariff “opens the door to attracting more businesses and more jobs for the communities we serve,” said Robert M. Blue, president of Dominion’s Power Delivery Group.
Virginia is well positioned to win more data-center projects and, as major players in cloud services are committed to reducing their carbon footprints, there likely will be more Facebook-like deals in the future. Given the magnitude of data-center energy consumption — the Facebook facility is expected to consume as much electricity as 32,500 homes and the solar investment will run roughly $250 million — these deals could well influence Virginia’s energy mix and cost of electricity. Curious to know more about how the project is structured, I talked to Dianne Corsello, director of Dominion’s business development group.
At full build-out, Facebook will require 130 megawatts of electricity. Power consumption at data centers is fairly constant, but the output of solar farms varies with weather and time of day. Assuming the panels are equipped with trackers, which rotate to follow the sun and generate more power, the solar farms will generate electricity only 25% of the time. Consequently, Dominion will need to build about 300 megawatts total solar capacity. (By way of comparison, the utility’s state-of-the-art gas-fired power station in Greensville is rated at 1,588 megawatts capacity and generates electricity approximately 85% of the time.)
Dominion soon will issue an RFP to solar developers with the expectation of bringing the solar capacity online in 2019 and 2020, Corsello says. The utility will draw from multiple facilities, none larger than 150 megawatts in size.
The SCC must approve the Schedule RF tariff, just as it will have to approve the rates charged by each proposed solar facilities using Schedule RF. Facebook will pay the full retail rate plus an add-on for the purchase of renewable. Under the tariff Facebook will receive Renewable Energy Certificates certifying that the company has paid for renewable energy equal to the volume of electricity it consumed. Facebook’s payments for these certificates will help offset the higher cost of solar power paid by all Dominion ratepayers.
The 300 megawatts of solar capacity arising from the Facebook project will be over and above Dominion’s commitment to derive 15% of its electricity from renewable power sources by 2025.
