A House subcommittee on Tuesday voted to carry over for a year a bill that would give state regulators more authority to approve large renewable energy projects.
Del. Rip Sullivan Jr., D-Fairfax County, told the subcommittee of the House Labor and Commerce Committee that his House Bill 636 was intended to start a conversation, and he asked the panel to hold the bill for another year so that conversation can continue.
At the heart of the issue, Sullivan said, is how Virginia can resolve the state-versus-local “tension” of achieving state-mandated clean-energy goals when the path to approving new large renewable energy projects runs through local governments.
“It was meant to shine a spotlight on a challenge that we have,” Sullivan said of his bill.
The proposed legislation would allow developers of large renewable energy projects to seek approval from the State Corporation Commission, which regulates electric utilities in Virginia, instead of local governments under certain circumstances, removing the need to obtain local land-use approval or other local permits.
The bill comes as Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power, the state’s largest electric utilities, face legislated deadlines for achieving carbon-free energy portfolios but also as some Virginia localities have become increasingly opposed to new large solar facilities.
[Disclosure: Dominion is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
While the bill covers wind, solar and battery storage projects, it is solar facility proposals that have generated the most discussion among residents and elected officials at meetings of county boards of supervisors and town councils.
The proposed legislation drew opposition from, among others, the Virginia Association of Counties, which represents counties in legislative and regulatory matters at the state and national levels.
VACo argued on its website that the bills would “usurp local authority” and create “one statewide ordinance for all jurisdictions to follow.”
A companion bill in the Senate, SB 567 from Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, has been referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor.
Sullivan’s proposed legislation would apply to new solar energy projects of at least 50 megawatts, wind energy projects of at least 100 megawatts, and battery storage projects of at least 50 megawatts.
It would allow a project developer to seek siting approval from the State Corporation Commission if a renewable energy project meets certain state requirements outlined in the bill and yet is denied by a local government.
For example, such “general requirements” for solar facilities include specific minimum setbacks, a maximum height of 25 feet when solar arrays are at full tilt, a maximum volume of 55 decibels for sound generated by a facility and a plan for the eventual decommissioning of the facility.
The proposed legislation also allows a developer to seek SCC approval if a local government fails to approve or deny the application in a timely manner or if the locality notifies an applicant that its project is locally compatible but then adds more restrictive requirements to its zoning laws.
Before the subcommittee held a voice vote to carry his bill over until next year’s General Assembly, Sullivan said that he is “ready to continue this conversation because I think it’s an important conversation for us to have.”
“How do we as a state, a collection of localities, get to where we need to get with respect to our energy mix here in Virginia?” he asked.
