US commonwealth legislates to triple energy storage

Virginia’s House of Representatives and Senate have passed legislation that would triple the amount of energy storage capacity the US commonwealth requires its two public utilities to procure under the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA). The legislation will become law unless Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoes it before Friday.

Passed in 2020, the VCEA requires Virginia’s two public utilities, Dominion and Appalachian Power, to have a combined target to add 3.1 GW of energy storage capacity by the end of 2035. It also gives Dominion until 2045, and Appalachian until 2050, to supply electricity from only carbon-neutral sources.

The new legislation changes that benchmark, requiring Appalachian Power to petition for at least 780 MW of short-duration energy storage capacity by 2040 and 520 MW of long-duration energy storage capacity by 2045. The legislation will require Dominion to petition for at least 5.22 GW of short-duration energy storage capacity and 3.48 GW of long-duration energy storage capacity by 2045. This brings the total energy storage capacity required between the two utilities to 10 GW, more than triple the state’s current target.

House delegate Richard “Rip” Sullivan, who sponsored the House version of the bills and is a Democrat, said supporting energy storage facilities can “help smooth out the highs and lows of electricity demand and could potentially reduce the need for new power plants.”

“With the long-term benefits of this technology, it’s important that Virginia find ways to attract these technologies into the commonwealth and it’s my belief that the act of passing this bill will go a long way in doing that,” Delegate Sullivan said at a House subcommittee meeting earlier this year.

The legislation’s House version passed mostly along party lines, with 54 voting in favor and 44 voting against it. The senate version unanimously passed the Senate.

When Virginia signed the VCEA into law in 2020, it became the seventh state or commonwealth to establish a procurement mandate for energy storage. In 2018, Virginia began mandating for utilities to submit annual reports on storage and distributed energy resource technology capacity, investments, and projects. Virginia also created the Virginia Solar Energy Development and Energy Authority in 2015, which is set to expire this July.

However, despite its strong legislation, Virginia’s energy storage market is experiencing slow movement, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

Virginia is ranked eighth for its total solar capacity, with 6.84 GW installed across the commonwealth, according to the SEIA. Virginia is also ranked 19^th for its non-residential distributed-generation capacity. With only about 1 MW of energy storage in service, the SEIA said the state approved batteries for participation in demand response programs, along with net metering compensation, with the passage of House Bill HB 1062 last year.

Last year, Governor Youngkin signed legislation to create a modest community solar program between Appalachian Power and Dominion Energy.

From pv magazine USA.