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Dominion's 20-year roadmap: 39 GW of new generation with 21 GW solar, 3.5 GW batteries - and 9 GW of gas

Dominion Energy's latest integrated resource plan filed with Virginia's State Corporation Commission projects more than 39 GW of new generation over 20 years: 21 GW of solar, 3.5 GW of battery storage, 9 GW of natural gas, 3.3 GW of wind and 2 GW of small modular reactors, with residential bills projected to rise sharply by 2036.

Dominion Energy plans to add more than 39 gigawatts of new power generation over the next 20 years as electricity demand surges across Virginia, according to the company's latest integrated resource plan update filed with the State Corporation Commission.

Over that period, the utility plans to build more than 21 gigawatts of new solar, 3.5 gigawatts of battery storage, 9 gigawatts of natural gas, 3.3 gigawatts of wind and 2 gigawatts of small modular reactors. The filing is a roadmap of how the company expects to meet demand, not a concrete list of projects, and this year's update will not be litigated through a final order.

A key element is continued reliance on fossil fuels despite the Virginia Clean Economy Act's mandate to retire carbon-emitting sources. Dominion's filing states that green energy sources are not commercially viable or dispatchable enough to meet annual load growth of roughly 4 percent, or 500 to 700 megawatts, with power demand expected to double by 2045. In the company's words, natural gas generation will remain a critical component of its reliability strategy absent a commercially viable carbon-free dispatchable alternative.

Bill projections diverge sharply by methodology. Under Dominion's preferred calculation, a household using 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month would see its monthly bill rise to an estimated $258.03 by 2036 and $283.65 by 2046. Under the SCC's mandated method, the figures are $320.26 in 2036 and $458.22 in 2046. Dominion argues the SCC method overstates bills because it does not reflect anticipated sales growth.

For energy buyers and clean-energy watchers, the filing crystallizes the tension in the largest data-center market in the country: Dominion is planning one of the biggest solar and storage buildouts in the utility sector while simultaneously arguing it cannot meet load growth without new gas.

Official source: virginiamercury.com ↗