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VA Renewable Energy Bill Awaits Gov’s Signature
SB175 was engrossed and passed by the House on March 3, 2026 and on March 5th the House amendment passed and now the bill awaits the Virginia Governor’s signature or veto.
As reported previously, this bill could increase demand for non-utility, small renewable generation in Virginia.
This bill would amend Dominion’s RPS requirements, including:
- increasing the annual percentage RPS requirements to be met with in-state solar, wind, or anaerobic digestion resources of 1MW or less from 1% to: (i) 4.5% for 2026-2030; and (ii) 5% for 2031-2045;
- changing the compliance year for Dominion to procure at least 75% of RECs from in-state resources from 2025 to 2027;
- amending requirements related to Dominion’s required purchase of 16.1GW of solar or wind energy, capacity, or environmental attributes by 12/31/35 by: (i) increasing the portion to be placed on previously developed sites from 200MW to 1GW and requiring at least 35% to be procured from solar facilities not owned by a utility; (iii) requiring 1.1GW to be procured from solar generation facilities of 3MW or less, with 65% coming from facilities not owned by a utility;
- eliminating the requirement that solar or wind generation facilities have a capacity of at least 50kW to qualify for a power purchase agreement under a pilot program;
The bill would also direct SCC to initiate a proceeding by July 1, 2033 to evaluate the future availability of RECs from in-state solar, wind, or anaerobic digestion resources of 1MW or less and authorizes it to adjust the percentage of program requirements to be met by such resource by up to 1% in future compliance years.
