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RICHMOND — The State Corporation Commission, which regulates public utilities, heard testimony this week on Dominion’s proposed Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), a long-term energy usage planning document. At a hearing in Richmond that lasted much of the week, environmental groups made the case that Dominion’s plan does not sufficiently work to meet clean energy goals. They said the plan was over-reliant on supply-side energy efficiency and the company could better address clean energy and cost savings by focusing on demand-side management.
“Instead of pursuing ways to facilitate a faster interconnection of renewable energy and energy storage, Dominion resorts to traditional capital intensive, carbon emitting assets,” wrote Maria Roumpani, a grid planning expert, in testimony submitted on behalf of Advanced Energy United, an advocacy group that lobbies for clean energy. You can think of supply-side and demand-side energy in economic terms. Supply-side refers to what is made, that is, how the utility generates and transmits power.
The demand-side encompasses electricity users, and efficiency can be increased by reducing the amount of electricity it takes to run appliances or by lowering demand on the user side. Virginia code requires Dominion to file an updated IRP every two years. The document must include things like plans to build new power generation facilities, the most cost-effective means of complying with state and federal environmental regulations, and plans to reduce emissions and costs for users, particularly those who are low-income, elderly or disabled.
“As energy demand in our footprint is rapidly increasing, we at Dominion Energy are committed to providing reliable, affordable, and increasingly clean power to our customers every day,” Dominion said on its website. “The (IRP) is filed at regular intervals and contains potential plans balancing energy supply and demand requirements, environmental requirements and risks and benefits to customers over certain periods of time.” The IRP is not legally binding, but rather serves as a blueprint for how the company thinks it will meet energy demand over the next 15 to 20 years based on current projections.
Dominion’s plan accounts for double the current demand by 2039, which it says it will address through new energy infrastructure for more solar, wind and nuclear power, but also for new natural gas. That was a sticking point for groups, including the city of Alexandria, which joined the proceedings and made the case that they should be better included in the decision-making process. Adam Winston, a lawyer representing the city, said new natural gas facilities presented a problem under the Virginia Clean Energy Act, which aims to transition to 100% clean energy by 2045.
“While the proliferation of data centers and the pending load forecast may present challenges at the point of execution, that cannot absolve the company of its statutory duty to submit an IRP that, at the very least, presents a pathway to compliance,” Winston said during an opening statement Tuesday. “The city supports those respondents who have raised concerns about the company’s modeling of new natural gas generation facilities just before the VCEA calls for them to be decommissioned.” Winston also urged the SCC to order Dominion to form a local government stakeholder group to discuss modeling demand-side options and other local energy efficiency targets and data.
The SCC, in its capacity as the public utility’s regulatory body, can choose to accept or reject the IRP as written or require Dominion to make certain revisions. A decision is expected in the coming months. Kate Seltzer, kate.
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