Virginia Town & City magazine ran Virginia AEE's Harry Godfrey's article summarizing the state of advanced energy and its promise of economic growth, jobs and cleaner energy sources for the Commonwealth. See excerpts below from the article and read the entire piece here (p. 16 - 18).
Advanced energy is taking hold across the Commonwealth, from rooftop solar in Richmond to electric buses in Hampton Roads; from electric vehicle (EV) chargers popping up on I-81 to efficiency upgrades to public buildings across the state. The advanced energy industry is helping to grow and sustain Virginia’s economy. Today, the industry employs almost 100,000 people in the Commonwealth. That is more jobs than you will find in all the supermarkets and grocery stores across the state, twice as many as exist in our hospitality industry, and seven times the number in Virginia’s fossil fuel industry...
..Recent actions by Virginia lawmakers and regulators complement these market developments. The Grid Transformation and Security Act, passed by the General Assembly last year, will spur the development of (at least) 5,000 megawatts (MW) of new wind and solar capacity in Virginia over the next decade, as well as over $1 billion in new energy efficiency investment by customers through our major utilities.
This legislation has already begun to bear fruit. In May, regulators at the State Corporation Commission approved 11 new energy efficiency and demand response programs proposed by Dominion for Virginia homes and businesses. Over the next five years, the utility will spend almost $226 million on these measures to help customers save money...
- Rocky Forge Wind, a 76-MW wind farm that Apex Clean Energy plans to build in Botetourt County.
- The largest school-based solar installation in Northern Virginia by Sun Tribe that will save Arlington County more than $4 million in energy costs over the lifetime of the project.
- The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project (CVOW) being developed by Orsted in conjunction with Dominion Energy, the first offshore wind project in federal waters and one of the first in the Mid-Atlantic.
- Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) projects that help businesses, industrial facilities, and public institutions upgrade energy-intensive systems. Fluvanna County leaders hired TRANE to upgrade their lighting, HVAC and building controls to save almost $600,000 a year in energy, operations and maintenance costs.
- How Virginia is preparing for the electric vehicle transformation underway, using its $96 million federal settlement with Volkswagen for EV charging infrastructure with EVgo, and medium and heavy-duty vehicles.
Read the entire Virginia Town & City piece here (p. 16 - 18).