Defense Department partners with Dominion Energy to meet federal carbon-free electricity goals
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is working with Dominion Energy Virginia (Dominion Energy) to jointly achieve the carbon pollution-free (CFE) electricity targets established by President Joe Biden.
President Biden’s Federal Sustainability Plan directs the government to help tackle the climate crisis by establishing a path to achieve 100 percent CFE for federal government operations by 2030.
“The Department of Defense is the largest energy consumer in the federal government,” Brendan Owens, assistant secretary of defense for energy, installations, and environment chief sustainability officer, said. “As such, our relationships with our energy service providers are critically important. Working in partnership with Dominion Energy to ensure that our installations are supplied with resilient, reliable, and clean electricity enhances military readiness and strengthens the communities where our service members and civilian teammates live.”
With more than 300,000 buildings and 600,000 vehicles, the U.S. Government is the nation’s largest energy consumer. Federal demand for new sources of locally supplied carbon-free electricity will save taxpayer money and create jobs, as well as cleaner air and a more stable and resilient grid.
The DoD and Dominion Energy are jointly exploring several potential solutions, including on-site clean power generation, building level energy efficiency and a variety of other resilience and efficiency enhancing distributed energy resources, Owens said.
“For several years, Virginia has been at the forefront of our nation’s clean energy transition,” Ed Baine, president of Dominion Energy Virginia, said. “We’re excited to work with the Department of Defense to build on that progress and help achieve the federal government’s clean energy goals.” “This is a great example of how the public and private sectors can work together to promote a cleaner environment, create jobs and economic opportunity, and strengthen our nation’s energy security.”
DoD and Dominion Energy identified three areas of opportunity for collaboration. They include:
1. Regulated tariffs: Dominion Energy offers multiple regulated tariff products and is exploring opportunities to expand options that can provide clean, resilient, and cost-effective sources of clean electricity
2. Onsite generation development: Dominion Energy is exploring opportunities to build CFE generation assets on DoD land in Virginia. These projects can improve the resiliency of military installations and support the overall decarbonization of the region’s electricity grid.
3. Energy efficiency: Dominion Energy offers multiple energy efficiency programs that can support DoD and other federal agencies’ overall energy and resilience goals, while reducing the overall load on the electric system. DoD is exploring the opportunity to enroll in these programs at installations in Dominion Energy’s service territory.
The DoD will continue to seek partnership opportunities that enable the agency and other federal partners to achieve Biden’s CFE goals.
