Dive Brief:

• Dominion Energy on Wednesday issued a ‘Request for Information’, survey seeking comments from its nonresidential customers on their renewable energy goals as the utility develops its plan to add 3 GW of wind and solar by 2022.
• The survey asks Dominion’s commercial, industrial and government customers eight questions about their level of interest in renewables as well as the type and scope of projects the customers may be interested in investing in.
• The questions come a few weeks after Virginia released its 10-year energy plan, which aims to add 2 GW of offshore wind by 2028 along with 3 GW of onshore wind and solar by 2022. Dominion is the largest utility in the state and released its proposed 10-year plan in July.

Dive Insight:

Both Dominion and Virginia’s 10-year energy plans are products of the state’s Grid Transformation and Security Act, which was signed in March by Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam and allows Virginia utilities to spend their excess earnings on grid modernization and renewable energy investments.

The release of the survey indicates Dominion is looking to gauge its business customers’ interest in renewable energy development and “adapt renewable programs to meet customer needs” as it expands its clean energy development.

“We welcome the opportunity to learn more about the renewable energy targets and goals of business and governmental customers across the state,” said Corynne Arnett, vice president of customer service, in a statement. 

Comments from Virginia business stakeholders regarding the state’s 10-year plan raised concerns about the “uncertainty” of planning for long-term renewable energy procurement as federal tax incentives wind down.

The state also has a 1 MW cap for nonresidential solar customers, which solar advocacy groups said could dissuade larger commercial customers from participating in solar purchases.

Dominion’s survey asks companies and government agencies whether they’ve set renewable energy or sustainability goals, what kind of resources they would support, “whether onsite or offsite”, as well as the size of project and length of time the customer would commit to hosting a project.