As Virginia lawmakers weigh energy
legislation, new measures were still being introduced and worked on
in committee on Friday, Ivy Main, a state lobbyist with the Sierra Club,
wrote in The Energy Collective.
Among others, Virginia lawmakers are considering bills
to change local tax treatment for renewable energy, open investment
access, broaden community solar initiatives, repeal standby charges for net
metering, and develop energy storage programs and research consortiums.
It is "orchestrated mayhem" in the Virginia
General Assembly, according to Main. She explained that any bill
that has not passed its own house by Feb. 16 is essentially dead, a date
known as "The Crossover."
Insight:
There is a lot of energy legislation up for debate in
Virginia. Almost 20 bills are covering issues such as consumer
choice, utility cost recovery, financing, tax credits, solar gardens and energy
storage.
Four bills aim to reduce barriers to investment in
Virginia's solar industry. "Virginia law is riddled with barriers that
restrain the market for wind and solar in Virginia," Main wrote.
"This year several bills take aim at the policies holding us back."
One measure, for example, would clarify that renewable
energy companies with retail customers under power purchase agreements are
not public utilities, exempting them from the statutory requirements for
public utilities and suppliers. Another would effectively eliminate standby
charges for residential solar systems by raising the size of facilities from 10
kW to 20 kW, which are required to pay.
"Since residential solar facilities that are
net-metered are already limited to 20 kW, this would effectively repeal standby
charges for residential net metering," Main wrote.
Two proposed bills seek to promote energy storage. House Bill
(HB) 452 would create a consortorium to boost research and
development of energy storage, with another bill
seeking to develop a program that would enable commercial and
industrial customers to sell battery storage services to the grid.
Other measures authorize utilities to develop community
solar gardens, establish tax credits for renewable energy property, and direct
Virginia's governor to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
No comments:
Post a Comment