By Rich Heidorn Jr.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) on Sunday signed into law landmark legislation committing the state to closing most of its coal-fired generation by 2024 and making it the first Southern state to adopt a 100% clean energy standard.

“These new clean energy laws propel Virginia to leadership among the states in fighting climate change,” Northam said in a statement. “They advance environmental justice and help create clean energy jobs. In Virginia, we are proving that a clean environment and a strong economy go hand-in-hand.”

The Virginia Clean Economy Act (House Bill 1526 and Senate Bill 851) creates a CO2 cap-and-trade program to reduce emissions from power plants and amends the Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act, which committed the state to joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

The legislation is a stunning turnaround for Virginia’s energy policy, spurred by Democrats’ takeover of the House of Delegates and the Senate in November. Last year’s budget approved by Republicans, Northam noted, prohibited Virginia from joining RGGI.

The new law:

• Replaces the existing voluntary renewable portfolio standard program with a mandatory RPS that applies to electric utilities and licensed competitive suppliers. It requires Dominion Energy Virginia to be 100% carbon-free by 2045 and Appalachian Power by 2050.
• Sets an energy efficiency resource standard and requires a third-party review of whether energy companies meet savings goals.
• Establishes 5,200 MW of offshore wind as “in the public interest,” up from 16 MW. It requires Dominion to prioritize hiring local workers from historically disadvantaged communities for the offshore project and to work with the state on apprenticeship and job training programs. Dominion must include an environmental and fisheries mitigation plan in its construction.
• Establishes that 16,100 MW of solar and onshore wind is “in the public interest” and expands net metering for rooftop solar. It sets an energy storage target of 2,400 MW by Dec. 31, 2035.
• Removes a provision declaring that planning and development activities for new nuclear generation facilities are in the public interest.

“By joining RGGI, Virginia will take part in a proven, market-based program for reducing carbon pollution in a manner that protects consumers,” Northam said. The Department of Environmental Quality will create and run an auction program to sell allowances into a market-based trading program.

Revenues from the sale of allowances will be distributed by the Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy to low-income, disability, veteran and age-qualifying energy efficiency programs; additional energy efficiency measures for public facilities; coastal resilience efforts; and administrative costs.

The State Corporation Commission will be prevented from issuing a certificate for public convenience and necessity for any investor-owned utility to own, operate or construct a generator that emits carbon until the General Assembly receives the state Air Pollution Control Board’s report on how to achieve 100% carbon-free electricity generation by 2050 and whether the legislature should ban new generation units that emit carbon. The report is due Jan. 1, 2021.

Utility applications to construct a new generating facility will include the social cost of carbon, as determined by the commission, as a cost adder.