Loudoun Times Mirror detailed Virginia's new Energy Plan, quoting AEE's Kim Jemaine on how the updates run counter to the Governor's stated goals. Read snippets below and the full article here.
Virginia Governor Glen Youngkin is not ruling out any energy source including fossil fuels in his quest to provide the Commonwealth with a reliable and affordable supply of clean power. Instead, he is placing the Commonwealth’s energy future on a path towards more nuclear and natural gas generation as opposed to wind and solar.
At the unveiling of the Virginia 2022 Energy Plan at a power transformer manufacturing facility in Lynchburg, Youngkin called for a power generation approach that harnesses nuclear, natural gas, renewables, and new energy sources to satisfy the increasing energy needs of the Commonwealth...
Given the heavy reliance on natural gas as a baseload power source, the energy plan said retiring current baseload generation provided by natural gas does not make for a “prudent energy plan.”
Using the energy plan to signal a change in the Commonwealth’s policy, Youngkin took aim at the VCEA, enacted under his predecessor in April 2020, which set a goal of 100% zero-carbon energy generation by 2050 and prescribed increasingly strict Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) for Virginia’s investor-owned electric utilities, notably Dominion Energy and American Electric Power’s Appalachian Power. He said that plan was unworkable because contained “inflexible rules with rigid deadlines” that are unattainable and would saddle ratepayers with “unbounded and unknowable costs.”...
Kim Jemaine, executive director of the Virginia chapter of Advanced Energy Econony, questioned the need for Youngkin to dismantle the 2020 law that already was working toward an energy efficient and reliable power supply. AEE is a national association of businesses such as Microsoft, NRG Energy, APEX Energy, that advocates for clean energy.
“Governor Youngkin’s objectives of reliability, affordability, innovation, competition, and environmental stewardship are all achievable within the framework of the VCEA. It’s unfortunate that the 2022 Energy Plan spends so much time disparaging the VCEA when that law offers a clear path to achieving the Administration’s purported goals,” she said.
Read the full article here.