Virginia energy plan targets utility costs, data center growth
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger released an energy plan that would require data centers to pay for the additional generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure they require. The plan also proposes demand-reduction requirements for large data centers and changes to how utilities recover fuel and investment costs.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger released an energy plan aimed at managing rising electricity demand and limiting cost increases for utility customers. The recommendations would assign data centers the infrastructure costs associated with their electricity use and could require large facilities seeking new grid connections to demonstrate that they can reduce demand during grid emergencies.
The plan also proposes requiring utilities to absorb part of fuel and purchased-power costs that exceed approved forecasts, along with changes to utility financing and renewable-energy procurement. Virginia’s modeling estimates that current policies could produce $422 billion in electricity system costs from 2026 through 2050, while a more flexible energy scenario would cost about $385 billion. Republican legislative leader Terry Kilgore criticized the plan and called for repealing the Virginia Clean Economy Act and leaving the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The administration is developing legislative proposals based on the plan.