Category: Energy
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SCC Agrees Dominion Must Own Most Wind, Solar
By Steve Haner The State Corporation Commission has rejected arguments that the Virginia Clean Economy Act would allow Virginia’s dominant electric utility to get more than 35% of its new wind, solar and battery power from third party suppliers. Dominion Energy Virginia is guaranteed by law (actually, required is the better word) to own 65%…
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Youngkin Energy Reforms Killed Without Votes
By Steve Haner Governor Glenn Youngkin’s proposal to ensure that any future wave of wind turbines built off Virginia must follow a real competitive bid process ended up dead as a beached whale. The General Assembly didn’t just kill his proposed amendment during its reconvened session April 12, it refused to even take up the…
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No, Climate Change is Not Adding Home Runs
by Steve Haner Maybe if a claim is repeated more than once, it won’t sound so absurd? Perhaps that is why the Richmond Times-Dispatch felt it necessary to print two stories today about the recent ludicrous claim that “climate change” is making it easier to hit a home run. “Since 2010, more than 500 dingers…
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Richmond Gas Works Back on Energy Death Row?
by Steve Haner The Richmond City Council member seeking to kill Richmond Gas Works is finally asking her colleagues to put some money behind her dream, seeking a budget amendment to pay for a study on a path to ending the government-owned utility. Thus reports Patrick Larsen of Virginia Public Media, who wrote (and presumably…
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Alternative Energy Picking Up Steam
by Dick Hall-Sizemore No matter how much some on this blog protest, the move to alternative energy sources is picking up momentum across the country. I was in South Carolina last week visiting my brother. Pictured is a large array of solar panels adjacent to a huge Walmart distribution center. An electrical co-op also had…
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Youngkin Seeks Bids on Future Offshore Wind
By Steve Haner Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) has proposed a stronger requirement in state law that any second wave of offshore wind serving Virginia be subjected to a competitive procurement process, rather than simply allowing Dominion Energy Virginia to build it with all the costs and risks imposed on its customers. The planned 176-turbine Coastal…
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APCO VCEA Plan Keeps Coal Until 2040 (In WVA)
by Steve Haner Appalachian Power Company (APCO), serving Western Virginia, has now filed its annual update on Virginia Clean Economy Act compliance, including long term bill impact estimates. As the State Corporation Commission begins its review process, here are some highlights: The projected increases in electric bills are little changed and perhaps a bit lower…
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Lower Bills? Green Energy Keeps Them Climbing.
by Steve Haner Customer cost projections for compliance with the Virginia Clean Economy Act have increased again from the first such estimates made in 2020. The bill for 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity from Dominion Energy Virginia to power a home for a month may rise almost $100, or 83%, by 2035. Dominion residential customers…
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“Cheap” Solar Costs More Than Offshore Wind?
by Steve Haner In preparing for the latest round of new additions to its solar generation assets, Dominion Energy Virginia rejected eight privately- developed projects which were substantially cheaper than the projects it wanted to build on its own with ratepayer money. Just how much more expensive the company-owned projects will be is not clear,…
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Under RGGI Virginia Releases More CO2, Not Less
by Steve Haner Since Virginia joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) compact at the start of 2021, according to data reported by the U.S. Energy Information Agency, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted to provide electricity to customers in the state has grown. Despite two years of RGGI caps and taxes, total CO2 emissions…
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Breaking Virginia’s Energy Impasse
by Bill O’Keefe With the two chambers of the General Assembly politically divided, there is no hope for a bipartisan compromise on changing the Virginia Clean Economy Act. Without change, we are stuck with a radical energy policy that will enrich Dominion and leave consumers holding the bag. VCEA will stand as a monument to…
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RGGI Repeal Debate Rages on Comment Portal
by Steve Haner Virginia’s Air Pollution Control Board is continuing through the necessary steps to repeal Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a regional compact that imposes an allowance cost (carbon tax) on fossil fuels used in generating electricity. During 2021 and 2022, the tax collected about half a billion dollars from…
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SCC, SMR Nukes Caught in Energy Wars Deadlock
by Steve Haner What the 2023 General Assembly didn’t pass is also an important Virginia energy policy story, starting with failure on its part to fill the two open seats on the crucial State Corporation Commission. This follows its failure last year to fill one open seat on the three-judge panel. As reported yesterday, advocates…
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SCC Oversight Restored, Don’t Expect Lower Bills
by Steve Haner The final version of a regulatory revision for Dominion Energy Virginia restores State Corporation Commission authority over the utility’s profit margin and rates, a major goal for Governor Glenn Youngkin (R). It was also the highest priority in a detailed energy policy put forward by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.…
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RTD Promises Lower Electric Bills? Watch and See.
From this morning’s Richmond Times-Dispatch: A reduction in Dominion Energy bills is on the way after a compromise on a new approach to regulate the company made it through the General Assembly on the last day of the session…. The compromise on electric bills — in legislation that passed nearly unanimously — would bring an…