Virginia, as it stands today, can hardly be called an energy storage market. But its legislature just passed a clean-energy omnibus bill so comprehensive and thorough that, almost overnight, it converted the state into a storage market to watch.
Richmond’s entry sets a new standard for ambitious clean energy policy. Not only does it call for closing fossil-fueled plants by midcentury, but it also introduces energy-efficiency savings targets for the first time in the state’s history, ramps onshore renewables by 16 gigawatts, targets 5.2 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2034, lifts caps on distributed generation and commits the state to joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
“The Commonwealth is open for business,” said clean energy policy expert Katherine Hamilton, chair of 38 North Solutions and a lifelong Virginian. “There are a lot of companies that have been wanting to do business in the Commonwealth, and now they’re going to be able to.”
Source: Greentech Media
