Virginia lawmakers have passed a bill to support the US Commonwealth’s electric grid going 100% “clean” by 2050, which includes an energy storage deployment target of 3.1GW by 2035.
The new goalpost is slightly higher than New York’s much-celebrated 3,000MW goal, although New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has set his state’s sights on reaching that goal five years earlier than Virginia’s.
With those – perhaps irrelevant – comparisons to New York aside, the Virginia Clean Economy Act was passed on Tuesday 11 February, after what local news outlet The Virginia Mercury described as “dramatic” debate in the House of Representatives and “fiery” debate in the Senate.
While it has not yet become law, requiring another hearing in the bicameral state legislature, Governor of Virginia Ralph Northam is reportedly keen to sign it in whichever form lawmakers can agree, with Northam himself having set out an Executive Order to attain the 100% clean energy goal.
Democrat and Republican politicians have followed up what Mercury environment and energy correspondent Sarah Vogelsong pointed out had been weeks of negotiation over the 75-page plan. It was almost scuppered at the last by a number of House Democrats who felt emission reduction targets were not aggressive enough, Vogelsong wrote.
Under the Act, all of the six existing coal power plants in Virginia operated by utility Dominion will need to shut by 2030. While all utility-owned gas power plants in the Commonwealth are scheduled for closure by 2045 already, local environment group Chesapeake Climate Action Network said the bill could accelerate this process.
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