Dive Brief:
- A Virginia subcommittee on energy has recommended a bill allowing Dominion Virginia Power to recoup the costs of its first major solar energy project and moved forward a bill to give the utility a five year rate freeze.
- Renewables advocates say the bill gives too much control over the state's solar market to Dominion, allowing it pick larger partners to build and finance the facility.
- The utility is lobbying state regulators hard for its rate freeze, which Dominion says is necessary in advance of carbon regulations which could cause power costs to rise. Observers note that Dominion doesn't often lose in the legislature.
Dive Insight:
The Daily Press has an interesting take on a Virginia energy subcommittee meeting held this week, pointing out that the utility has a strong track record with the legislation it supports.
"Dominion typically gets its way on legislation in Richmond," the newspaper noted. "In 2014, the company gave almost $650,000 in campaign contributions, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, which tracks campaign finances. ... Every bill Dominion opposed during this subcommittee meeting went down in flames."
House Bill 2237 would authorize an investor-owned electric utility that purchases a solar power generation facility in Virginia that is at least 5 MW "to recover the costs of acquiring the facility, with an enhanced rate of return on equity, through a rate adjustment clause," according to the bill's summary.
The rate adjustment clause for recovering such costs may be based on a market index in lieu of a cost of service model, and the measure also states that construction or purchase of such a solar power generation facility are in the public interest.
The Daily Press quoted Francis Hodsoll at Virginia Advanced Energy Industries saying the measure would allow Dominion to "crowd out any other solar development."
In January, Dominion filed an application with the Virginia State Corporation Commission to build the state's first large-scale solar facility, a 20-MW project to be built on approximately 125 acres of land owned by the company near the Remington Power Station in Fauquier County.
The facility would contain approximately 90,000 photovoltaic panels and at peak capacity would generate enough electricity to provide power for 5,000 homes. The project has an estimated in-service date of October 2016.