Solar

Dominion Energy to expand utility-scale solar, storage

Dominion Energy plans to add nearly 1,000 MW in solar and energy storage in Virginia.
Dominion Energy to expand utility-scale solar, storage
Dominion Energy Virginia's Gloucester Solar facility in Gloucester County, Va. (Source: Dominion Energy).

Dominion Energy plans to add nearly 1,000 MW in solar and energy storage in Virginia. The expansion was approved by the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC).

The approval includes 15 utility projects, in addition to power purchase agreements (PPAs) with 24 other projects. The additions are expected to be finished in 2022 and 2023.

Dominion plans to add 11 utility-scale solar generating facilities totaling approximately 561 MW, one solar facility paired with energy storage totaling around 150 MW (100 MW solar, 50 MWh storage) and one stand-alone energy storage resource totaling close to 20 MWh. Two other distributed solar projects total less than 4 MW. A full breakdown of the projects is below.

Source: PETITION OF VIRGINIA ELECTRIC AND POWER COMPANY, CASE NO. PUR-2021-00146. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA STATE CORPORATION COMMISSION
AT RICHMOND, MARCH 15, 2022.

The PPAs include five utility-scale solar projects totaling approximately 137 MW, two PPAs for utility-scale solar paired with storage totaling around 26 MW of solar and 13 MWh of storage, one for stand-alone storage representing around 20 MWh and 12 PPAs for 16 small-scale distributed solar projects totaling about 33 MW.

Source: PETITION OF VIRGINIA ELECTRIC AND POWER COMPANY, CASE NO. PUR-2021-00146. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA STATE CORPORATION COMMISSION
AT RICHMOND, MARCH 15, 2022.

According to documents filed with the commission, Dominion expects an annual need for renewable energy certificates (REC) to exceed 19,000 GWh in 2030, and that grows to over 29,000 GWh in 2035.

In April 2020 Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed the Virginia Economy Act into law, requiring most of the state’s six remaining coal-fired power plants to close by the end of 2024. Dominion anticipates retiring its coal-fired Chesterfield Units 5 and 6 and Yorktown Unit 3 by 2023.

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