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Legislation to Help Keep the Lights on in Virginia Passes General Assembly

Posted by Savannah Gribbins on Mar 1, 2024

H.B. 862, a bill to advance grid-enhancing technologies, passed out of the General Assembly on Thursday and now heads to the governor’s desk

RICHMOND, VA – A bill that will help Virginia’s electric transmission grid be more efficient and help keep the lights on passed the Virginia General Assembly on Thursday.  

H.B. 862, proposed by Del. Phil Hernandez and endorsed by national business association Advanced Energy United, will improve grid reliability and increase the capacity of the existing grid to keep up with the Commonwealth’s growing energy needs. The bill requires that electric utilities in the state consider grid-enhancing technologies (GETs), a suite of technological upgrades that could add 30-40% more capacity to the current grid and save the Commonwealth money on grid congestion costs, in the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) process. 

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Topics: State Policy, Virginia, Press Releases, Kim Jemaine, Transmission

Richmond Times-Dispatch (Letters): Dominion over-reliant on fossil fuels

Posted by Kim Jemaine on Jul 27, 2023

Richmond Times-Dispatch published a letter to the editor submitted by Kim Jemaine in which she highlights Virginia's Dominion Energy's most recent Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) and advocates for more implementation of clean energy technologies rather than their suggested use of more nuclear reactors.

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Topics: Virginia, United In The News, Kim Jemaine

Advanced Energy United calls on Virginia’s regulatory body to reconsider RGGI withdrawal

Posted by Adam Winer on Jun 7, 2023

RICHMOND, VA, June 7, 2023 – Today, Advanced Energy United, the national association of businesses working to achieve 100% clean energy and electrified transportation, expressed its disappointment in the Air Pollution Control Board’s decision to approve a regulatory repeal of Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (“RGGI”).

“This Initiative is working to reduce energy costs for Virginians, and withdrawing from it undermines the Commonwealth’s economy," said Kim Jemaine, Director at Advanced Energy United. “In the first two years of participation, RGGI generated $252 million for weatherization and energy efficiency projects, chiefly for low-income Virginians. RGGI has been particularly impactful for the over 200,000 low-income residents who pay a disproportionate amount of their income toward the cost of energy.”

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Topics: Virginia, Press Releases, Kim Jemaine

Fauquier Times: Dominion projects new gas plants, advanced nuclear will be needed to meet soaring demand

Posted by Charlie Paullin on May 3, 2023

Fauquier Times runs an article published by Virginia Mercury, quoting Kim Jemaine's perspective on Dominion Energy's decision to continue building power plants to meet the utility's energy needs in that area.

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Topics: Virginia, United In The News, Kim Jemaine

Dominion Energy Virginia’s new resource plan does not fully align with Virginia Clean Economy Act

Posted by Adam Winer on May 2, 2023

New IRP not a “good faith decarbonization plan,” says national business group Advanced Energy United

[editor's note: this press release originally stated this was Dominion's first IRP since the VCEA was signed into law. It is Dominion's first IRP since the law went into effect.]

RICHMOND, VA, May 2, 2023 – This week, Dominion Energy Virginia filed its first Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) since the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), Virginia’s landmark energy law, went into effect in July of 2020. Today, Advanced Energy United, the business association that supported passage of the VCEA, criticized Dominion’s new approach for meeting the law’s requirements.

“We have seen this play from Dominion before. Its latest resource plan is yet another example of this utility picking a forecast that suits its business interests,” said Kim Jemaine, director at Advanced Energy United (formerly AEE). “Dominion chooses a questionable energy load forecast as justification for cherry-picking preferred technologies, preserving existing fossil-fuel facilities, and calling for new investment in gas fired resources. In our view, Dominion has not developed a good faith decarbonization plan that fully aligns with the Virginia Clean Economy Act, Virginia’s landmark energy law.”

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Topics: State Policy, Virginia, Press Releases, Kim Jemaine

Energy News Network: Q&A: Advanced energy advocate says Virginia governor's plan 'falls short'

Posted by Elizabeth McGowan on Oct 28, 2022

Energy News Network interviewed Kim Jemaine on Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's new energy plan. Read snippets below and the full article here

Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin caused a stir early this month when he released an Energy Plan that doesn’t mention climate change in its 35 pages, an about-face from the carbon emissions-cutting pillars initiated by his Democratic predecessor.

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Topics: Virginia, United In The News, Kim Jemaine

RTO Insider: Gov. Youngkin Releases 2022 Energy Plan

Posted by Devin Leith-Yessian on Oct 4, 2022

RTO Insider examined Virginia's new energy plan, quoting Kim Jemaine on how it stifles the governor's goal of reliability, affordability, innovation, and competition. Read snippets below and the full article here

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) on Monday released an energy plan that focuses on developing still-untested carbon-free resources while calling into question the ability of current renewable technology to make up for lost capacity as the state shifts away from fossil fuels.

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Topics: State Policy, Virginia, United In The News, Kim Jemaine

The Virginia Pilot: Youngkin describes his new energy plan as a flexible approach, but critics call it misguided

Posted by Katie King on Oct 3, 2022

The Virginia Pilot detailed Gov. Glenn Youngkin's new energy plan, quoting Kim Jemaine on how it takes the Commonwealth off course. Read snippets below and the full article here.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin unveiled a new energy plan on Monday that he said calls for a flexible approach.

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Topics: State Policy, Virginia, United In The News, Kim Jemaine

Business association Virginia AEE sets record straight on Clean Economy Act and Governor's new Energy Plan

Posted by Adam Winer on Oct 3, 2022

Plan calls for U-turn away from cleaner, cheaper energy future in Virginia, says business group

RICHMOND, VA, October 3, 2022 – Today, business association Virginia Advanced Energy Economy reviewed the new Energy Plan proposed by the Governor Youngkin Administration, and Kim Jemaine, Director at Virginia AEE, released the following statement:

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Topics: State Policy, Virginia, Press Releases, Kim Jemaine

Youngkin Administration fails to ease new burdensome regulations on solar industry

Posted by Adam Winer on Jul 13, 2022

Treating solar panels like pavement creates unnecessary project costs, new industry research paper shows

RICHMOND, July 13, 2022 — Business association Virginia Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) expressed disappointment about new regulatory guidance issued by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) today that fails to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens on the Virginia solar industry.

The guidance updates regulatory memos issued by Virginia’s DEQ in March that changed technical parameters of solar farm construction and maintenance. The DEQ memos claimed that because solar farms look similar to roads and parking lots on satellite imagery, solar farms should be regulated as such. Guidance released today outlined means for compliance, suggesting developers install unnecessary technology workarounds.

“Solar panels are not pavement, and solar farms are not parking lots,” said Kim Jemaine, Policy Director at Advanced Energy Economy (AEE). “Research conducted by both academic institutions and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory confirms that solar installations do not cause the kind of damaging runoff that paved surfaces do. These new regulations, which are not based on science, will hamstring a growing industry in Virginia for no valid reason.”

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Topics: State Policy, Virginia, Press Releases, Kim Jemaine