The Virginia General Assembly wrapped up its session and Democrats used the power they won in November's elections to push through bills favoring clean energy as the state faces significant load growth from data centers.

The power industry’s own demand forecasts expect national summer peak to swell by 166 GW by 2030, Grid Strategies said in its latest load growth report.

The Virginia SCC approved a smaller rate request than Dominion Energy asked for, but it also approved its plan to set up a new rate class for large customers and new natural gas units to meet rising demand.

Many comments on the Department of Energy’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to FERC on large load interconnections warned against going too far into jurisdictional issues.

State regulators say the push to give FERC jurisdiction over large load interconnections could leave the agency biting off more than it can chew around complex state-run processes, while failing to accomplish the intended goal of speeding approvals of hyperscale data centers.

The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners passed a resolution urging FERC to resist the Department of Energy’s push to give itself jurisdiction over large loads interconnecting with the grid.

FERC Chair Mark Christie presided over his final open meeting, as he plans to step down in the coming weeks after completing work on several orders.

The Virginia SCC ordered changes to Dominion's IRP filings, requiring scenarios that meet state clean energy goals and have an increased level of storage, efficiency and demand-side management.

Dominion Energy Virginia asked for its first base rate increase since 1992 in the face of inflation and load growth in its territory.

Dominion Energy CEO Bob Blue discussed continued growth in data center demand, offshore wind and the firm's Connecticut nuclear plant during the company's Q4 earnings call.