Virginia commission approves Phase II of Dominion Energy Virginia’s grid transformation plan

The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) approved Phase II of Dominion Energy Virginia’s Grid Transformation Plan.

The Grid Transformation Plan is the company’s ten-year plan to transform the electric distribution grid. The plan incorporates robust decarbonization goals, customer rates lower than national and regional averages, and high levels of reliability for customers.

“This is another major step forward in building a clean energy economy in Virginia. This includes the largest offshore wind project in the nation, re-licensure of our nuclear units, energy storage, and solar energy, all of which creates jobs and economic opportunity here in the Commonwealth. As we bring more renewable energy onto our grid to build a cleaner future, and focus on increasing resiliency, we must modernize the way the system works,” Charlene Whitfield, senior vice president of Power Delivery at Dominion Energy Virginia, said. “Today’s decision by the SCC ensures that we can remain agile as a company to deliver the reliable, affordable, and increasingly clean energy that our customers want and expect.”

Specifically, the commission approved over $650 million of investments in 2022 and 2023. The investments focus on distributed energy resources, such as small-scale solar, energy storage facilities, and electric vehicles. Dominion Energy Virginia will continue to deploy smart metering infrastructure and intelligent grid devices to integrate these energy resources effectively. Further, the company will invest in the infrastructure and systems to process, manage, and use that data to optimize grid operations and improve customer reliability.

Also, recent federal and state clean energy policies to speed the transition to electric vehicles have accelerated the need for a transformed energy grid capable of supporting significant volumes of renewables, batteries, and other distributed energy resources.

Phase I of the plan is already underway with activities to enhance the reliability and security of the distribution grid as well as the development of a new customer information platform (CIP). The CIP will provide information that enables customers to make better decisions about their usage and bills.