The legislation would have raised the targets for new energy storage in Virginia, which supporters said would send a message that the commonwealth wants such investments. Gov. Glenn Youngkin cited the cost of the technology as he killed the bills.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin has vetoed legislation that would have raised the targets for how much new energy storage the commonwealth’s two largest electric utilities must propose adding over the next two decades.
Energy storage facilities store electricity during off-peak hours when it’s cheaper to generate and deploy it during high-demand periods when it would be more expensive to generate otherwise.
Supporters say such facilities can help smooth out the highs and lows of electricity demand and potentially reduce the need for new power plants. Opponents of the higher targets pointed to the expense of such technology that would be passed on to the consumer.
“We must be vigilant to limit cost increases to Virginia’s residents,” Youngkin said in a statement explaining his vetoes of SB 1394, carried by Sen. Lamont Bagby, D-Richmond, and HB 2537, by Del. Rip Sullivan, D-Fairfax County.
The Republican governor’s vetoes were among 38 that he announced on Friday and among more than 190 in all during this past General Assembly session.
Other energy-related bills that Youngkin vetoed included legislation to create a renewable-energy workforce program and legislation to increase the amount of rooftop solar and other forms of distributed solar.
Bagby and Sullivan’s legislation would have more than tripled the amount of new energy storage that Virginia’s two largest electric utilities, Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power, would need to propose adding to their portfolios by the end of 2045 under the Virginia Clean Economy Act.
[Disclosure: Dominion is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
The Virginia Clean Economy Act, passed in 2020, mandates that Dominion and Appalachian achieve carbon-free energy portfolios by 2045 and 2050, respectively. It includes benchmarks for adding new solar and wind power generation, as well as new energy storage.
The energy storage bills created separate definitions and targets for short-duration and long-duration energy storage. The former generally stores power for less than 10 hours, while the latter stores electricity for longer and has seen increased development in recent years as solar and wind, which produce power intermittently, play a greater role on the electric grid.
The bills also gave state regulators the flexibility to change the higher targets depending on how “reasonably achievable” they turned out to be.
In his veto statement, Youngkin said that the Virginia Clean Economy Act “is misguided and does not work.”
“Long-duration energy storage is an expensive technology and if utilities believed it to be the best technology to meet demand, they would be actively seeking permission to build them,” Youngkin said.
He cited Dominion Energy’s rising costs, including a proposed bill increase of about $21 over two years for the average residential customer and the utility’s plans to bill customers for costs associated with renewable energy standards compliance.
Sullivan said in a statement to Cardinal News that “there simply is no dispute that a crucial part of our drive to meet our energy needs — and to keep the grid reliable and our electricity affordable for Virginia’s families — will necessarily involve accelerating our energy storage capabilities.”
“Other competitor states are beginning to take steps to encourage long duration energy storage development, and HB 2537 would have made Virginia a national leader in storage. The Governor’s misguided veto leaves Virginia falling behind,” Sullivan said.
Youngkin initially sent the bills back to the General Assembly with a substitute that would have essentially gutted the Virginia Clean Economy Act by repealing Appalachian and Dominion’s renewable-energy requirements. After legislators rejected his substitute, he vetoed the bills.
Sullivan said he will reintroduce his bill during the next General Assembly.
Read the full article here: https://cardinalnews.org/2025/05/06/energy-storage-bills-among-youngkins-vetoes/
