Virginia pushes utilities to better use power grid

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GRID

• Virginia lawmakers pass a bill directing Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power to gather and report detailed data on their use of the power grid, which can then be used by regulators to force efficiencies and reduce costs. (Canary Media)

• PJM Interconnection asks FERC to approve an expedited interconnection process for a handful of projects over 250 MW, and a price cap on the grid operator’s next two capacity auctions. (Utility Dive)

• Virginia lawmakers pass a bill to encourage the addition of storage or interconnection at gas peaker and other rarely used power plants to help bring capacity online more quickly. (Utility Dive)

• Swiss company PFIFFNER Group breaks ground on an $18.5 million factory in Georgia to make transformers and other technology for transmission and distribution systems, power generation, and railway electrification. (Global Atlanta)

• Schneider Electric plans to build a new factory in Tennessee to make ​“custom power distribution equipment” as it moves to grow its revenue from data centers. (Utility Dive)

DATA CENTERS

• Virginia’s adoption of large-load tariffs last year is part of a trend in which states are beginning to apply special utility rates and requirements for huge energy users like data centers. (Canary Media)

EMISSIONS

• Virginia lawmakers pass a bill to cement the state’s membership in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in a way to prevent future governors from withdrawing it after a Republican former governor used a loophole to do so in 2023. (E&E News)

FOSSIL FUELS

• The Southern Environmental Law Center and the Sierra Club challenge Georgia’s approval of permits for four new gas turbines at the coal-powered Plant Bowen. (Inside Climate News)

• A Texas school district rejects tax breaks for a $5.7 billion liquified natural gas project on the Gulf Coast after previously rejecting three other proposals from LNG developers. (Inside Climate News)

• West Virginia lawmakers advance a bill to lower the severance tax on metallurgical coal used for making steel. (WV Metro News)

• West Virginia lawmakers advance legislation to loosen restrictions on aboveground storage tanks, weakening a rule that was adopted in 2014 after a coal-cleaning chemical spill contaminated the water supply for residents in nine counties. (West Virginia Watch)

• Appalachian Power reports a coal plant with a history of unplanned outages that’s set to receive federal funds for upgrades did not generate power over the weekend because of ​“unseasonably mild weather.” (WOWK)

PIPELINES

• West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey announces Hope Gas will build a 30-mile pipeline expansion to connect to a data center campus. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

• Environmental groups ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reconsider its approval of Williams Cos.’ pipeline expansion from Virginia into North Carolina. (WVTF)

• Chesapeake Utilities Corporation considers a pipeline expansion in Virginia’s Eastern Shore. (Delaware Business Times)

AFFORDABILITY

• Virginia lawmakers advance legislation to lower power bills by requiring data centers to pay more, but also extend an​expensive power line burial program. (Virginia Mercury)

UTILITIES

• The Tennessee Valley Authority shares estimates that show the cost of every form of power except for wind and small modular nuclear have increased since 2024. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

• A Kentucky lawmaker files a bill to revamp oversight of utilities and restrain rate hikes by expanding a state regulatory board, shifting appointment powers, and imposing new intervention limits — though critics warn the changes would harm consumers. (Lexington Herald-Leader, Kentucky Lantern)

OVERSIGHT

• A Republican incumbent and a challenger for a seat on the Texas board that oversees the oil and gas industry head to a runoff election after neither wins 50% of the vote. (Texas Tribune)

• The Tennessee Valley Authority’s chief business officer departs, and the utility will eliminate the role and reassign its duties to other executives. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)