Five years after the General Assembly enacted the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which mandates Dominion Energy transition to 100% carbon-free power sources by 2045, two Republican legislators who represent Isle of Wight and Surry counties say the goal is easier said than done.

It’s a position two of the state’s top Democrats, who voted to enact the 2020 law when their party held both legislative chambers and the governor’s office, say they’ve come to share.

“We went a long while with more supply than we had demand; now it’s flipped upside down,” House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, told a reporter with WVTF Public Radio, a station operated by Virginia Tech, following a meeting of the state’s Commission on Electric Utility Regulation, or CEUR.

Now, “we have much more demand than we have supply. And so, we have to respond. And I think sometimes you have policies we have to examine and make sure we meet demand and keep costs low,” Scott told WVTF. Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, told the same reporter, “we need to reexamine the law.”

In December, a Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, or JLARC, report to the General Assembly warned of a spike in statewide electricity demand fueled by the proliferation of power-hungry data centers, which are largely concentrated in Northern Virginia.

Keeping pace with that demand while adhering to the Clean Economy Act’s benchmarks is now often falling to rural localities with land available for utility-scale solar farms. The Clean Economy Act mandates at least 16,100 megawatts, or just under two-thirds of the state’s energy, come from solar or offshore wind farms by the end of 2035.

“The 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act may have been passed with good intentions, but it’s created serious challenges for rural communities like those in the 83rd House of Delegates District,” said Del. Otto Wachsmann, R-Sussex, whose district includes part of Isle of Wight. “To meet the VCEA and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiatives (RGGI) that were passed in the previous administration, our localities are being unduly pressured into approving commercial solar facilities that don’t make sense. This clash appears to be a race with neighbor being pitted against neighbor in our rural communities. At the same time Northern Virginia reaps the economic benefits of the data center boom, it refuses to host these same solar arrays.”

The RGGI is a multi-state cap-and-trade agreement to reduce pollution from fossil-fuel-burning power plants. It requires electric companies to meet a cap in carbon dioxide emissions or buy allowances to exceed the limit through an auction. Virginia joined RGGI as its 13th and southernmost state in 2021 under then-Gov. Ralph Northam but announced its withdrawal after Northam’s successor, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, issued an early 2022 executive order to “re-evaluate” and “immediately begin the regulatory process to end” Virginia’s participation. Youngkin’s administration is currently appealing a Floyd County Circuit Court decision. In November, Judge C. Randall Lowe found in favor of the Association of Energy Conservation Professionals and ruled Youngkin had acted unlawfully on grounds that “the only body with the authority to repeal the RGGI Regulation would be the General Assembly.” That ruling was stayed on March 6 pending the administration’s appeal.

“While I was not in office in 2020 when the Virginia Clean Economy Act was signed into law, I strongly oppose many aspects of this bill. If it remains in place, it will have a significant negative impact on my constituents, especially in rural areas like Surry County,” said Del. Kim Taylor, R-Petersburg, whose 82nd House District includes Surry.

Wachsmann too was not in office when the Clean Economy Act was passed. His district, which was redrawn during the 2021 redistricting process to include Isle of Wight, was at the time represented by Del. Roslyn Tyler, D-Sussex.

State Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, who also represents Surry County, declined to comment for this article. State Sen. Emily Jordan, R-Isle of Wight, and Del. Nadarius Clark, D-Suffolk, who also represents a portion of Isle of Wight County, each did not respond to the Times’ requests for comments.

 

Solutions to local solar rejection

Virginia’s push for a cleaner energy grid has over the past five years encountered another obstacle. Rural localities, including Isle of Wight and Surry, are increasingly saying no to covering their farmland with solar panels.

The calls to revisit the Clean Economy Act come amid two years of failed legislative proposals intended to give Richmond a greater say in whether large solar farms receive rezoning and permit approvals.

Last year, legislators killed bills that would have nullified local-level solar acreage caps and would have created an approval process overseen by the State Corporation Commission, rather than local governing bodies, for solar farms capable of generating 50 or more megawatts.

 Isle of Wight in 2023 set a limit of 2% of the county’s prime farm soils, or a maximum of 2,446 acres, all of which is now spoken for with last year’s approval of the 240-megawatt Sycamore Cross solar farm as the county’s 11th utility-scale project since 2015.

Surry, in March, set its limit at 7% of the county’s developable land, or 10,695 acres. Surry officials estimate the county’s three existing solar farms already account for 6% of the county’s developable acreage.

This year, a CEUR-recommended bill that would have established a state review board for energy projects and required host localities to issue a written explanation for denying approval of a solar farm the board had endorsed also died.

Aird, who’d voted in favor of the 2024 bill proposing to nullify local solar caps, was this year recorded as not voting but having intended to vote “nay” on the CEUR-recommended bill by state Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville. She joined Sen. Russet Perry, D-Loudoun, in siding with Republicans to kill the bill in a 20-19 vote on Feb. 3.

Aird, in a January Times interview, said rural localities in the 13th District she represents have made it clear to her that they oppose losing the authority to make zoning decisions on renewable energy projects.

Surry, Dinwiddie, Prince George and Sussex counties “would like to keep as much of that authority” as they can, and “it’s going to be my intention to support that position,” Aird said in January.

“I am neither anti-solar or pro-solar,” Wachsmann said. “I believe there are locations that make sense and those that do not make sense. I believe in local control and practical placement, but we shouldn’t be told by Richmond or NoVA where to put our energy infrastructure — especially when they profit and we pay the price. Worse, this one-size-fits-all policy has placed reliability on the back burner. If the grid goes down, it’s not the developers who suffer; it’s working families and small businesses that go without power and yet have higher light bills.  When we flip on the light switch, I want the lights to turn on.”

“The VCEA’s push for large-scale solar projects requires an exorbitant amount of land use- potentially 490 square miles for solar panels which is the equivalent of 20 times the size of New York City,” Taylor said. “It would not allow localities the input and control they deserve on the issue of solar energy. Additionally, the potential for higher electricity bills, particularly through large-scale project costs, could strain Virginia families, especially in low-income and rural areas where residents already struggle with utility costs. While we should certainly continue our work on making Virginia’s energy infrastructures as clean and sustainable as possible, it should not come at a cost that is detrimental to the citizens of Virginia. I welcome any movement from Democrat leadership to reassess this legislation.”

In response to repeated locality-level permit denials for solar farms, twin bipartisan bills in the House and Senate this year proposed redirecting at least 600 megawatts, or 3%, of the 16,100-megawatt VCEA 2035 goal to come from “previously developed” sites such as parking lots or brownfields that have been contaminated with hazardous waste, rather than agricultural land. But Youngkin in May vetoed both bills, describing them in his veto statement as trying to “make piecemeal changes to fix the discredited Virginia Clean Economy Act.”

Youngkin’s statement further accused Democrats, who hold narrow majorities in both General Assembly chambers, of having “failed to pass legislation that would meaningfully free Virginia’s ratepayers and businesses from this misguided path.”

“If we want to reach cleaner energy goals, we need to be honest about grid reliability, land use, and what it takes to power modern industry. Instead what is happening is actually the opposite. We are buying more out of state energy at higher prices that is more likely to be generated by ‘dirtier’ energy sources,” Wachsmann said.

Virginia’s grid is connected to PJM, a regional transmission organization spanning 13 states. According to PJM data, natural gas is PJM’s largest fuel source, accounting for 44% of its more than 108,000 megawatts available as of June 16, followed by nuclear at 30% and coal at 15%. Solar, despite accounting for 40% of new interconnection requests in 2024, accounts for only 5.5% of current PJM sources.

“We need a balanced approach. That includes making room for nuclear, natural gas, and yes—data centers that can help lift our economy,” Wachsmann said. “In short: let rural Virginia be part of the solution, not the scapegoat. We cannot be told that we have to bear the brunt of generating electricity the way they want to be used in their data-centers that our localities cannot benefit from financially.”