Virginia Releases 2026 Virginia Energy Plan: Key Takeaways for Utilities, Developers, Data Centers and Large Energy Users

Summary — The 2026 Virginia Energy Plan outlines the Spanberger Administration’s priorities for clean energy development, grid reliability and rising electricity demand from data centers. It proposes expanding solar and energy storage, reforming utility procurement and incentives, and ensuring large electricity users pay for needed infrastructure. Stakeholders should monitor upcoming State Corporation Commission proceedings and the 2027 General Assembly session for further developments.

On October 1, 2026, Governor Abigail Spanberger’s Administration released the 2026 Virginia Energy Plan (VEP), the Commonwealth’s statutorily required 10-year energy roadmap under Va. Code § 45.2-1710. Although the VEP is not a regulatory or ratemaking document, it sets the Administration’s energy agenda and signals the legislative and regulatory initiatives that are likely to follow. Notably, it is the first VEP to use capacity expansion modeling and it evaluates several pathways that each keep Virginia on track for a net-zero power sector by 2050.

Clean-First, Least-Cost Strategy

The VEP rests on three pillars (affordability, clean firm resources and local benefits) and seven strategies. It prioritizes efficiency, solar, storage, distributed energy resources (DERs), demand flexibility and better use of the existing grid, while advancing nuclear, offshore wind and long-duration storage. Shorter-lived “non-combustion” gas resources are favored over large, long-lived gas plants as a bridge. The modeling calls for up to 1.8 GW of solar and 1 to 2.2 GW of storage annually over the next two decades. The Plan also concludes that abandoning the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) or exiting the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the regional cap-and-trade program for power sector emissions, would nearly double emissions and impose an estimated $145 billion in health costs.

Data Centers and Large Loads

Data centers could account for more than 90% of Virginia’s electricity demand growth over the next two decades. The VEP’s stated position is that this growth should pay for the infrastructure it requires. It highlights Dominion’s new Schedule GS-5 large-load class (effective January 1, 2027), which imposes contract, minimum-demand and collateral requirements, along with HB 892’s directive that the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) study large-load forecasting and a pending SCC proceeding on interconnection queue management. The Plan also recommends limiting new behind-the-meter gas generation for data centers, emphasizes RGGI compliance for aggregated small units and refers to the new Data Center Accountability Framework.

Procurement and Utility Reform 

Because utility-proposed solar and storage costs exceed national averages, the VEP proposes exploring a state-led renewables marketplace. Under that approach, utility-owned and third-party projects would compete side by side in RFPs, without any presumption of utility ownership. It also proposes statewide site-readiness planning for solar, storage and transmission corridors, and it calls for aligning utility incentives with performance outcomes instead of capital spending.

Clean Firm Power and Gas

The Administration will seek VCEA amendments to bring fission, fusion and geothermal into the renewable portfolio standard (RPS). It would also require the SCC and utilities to evaluate zero-carbon options before committing to long-lived fossil assets, and it would accelerate nuclear deployment with ratepayer cost protections. On gas, the VEP prioritizes making better use of existing pipelines and would consider new greenfield pipelines only where verified needs cannot otherwise be met.

DERs and 2026 Legislation

The VEP targets 10 GW of aggregated DER participation by 2045 and builds on a record 2026 legislative session. That session raised storage mandates (Dominion must petition for 4 GW of short-duration storage by 2030 and 16 GW by 2045, plus 4 GW of long-duration storage), expanded the distributed-generation carve-out to 4.5% through 2030 and 5% through 2045, required 1 GW of solar on previously developed sites, added 525 MW of shared solar, authorized cooperative virtual power plants and expanded Percentage of Income Payment Program (PIPP) bill relief.

What to Watch

Upcoming milestones include the DER Task Force report (November 2026), the Comprehensive Economic Development Policy (expected November 2026) and the 2027 General Assembly session, where many of the VEP’s priority actions will require legislation. Stakeholders should also monitor the related SCC proceedings.

For questions about how the VEP may affect your projects or operations, please contact Brad Nowak, Partner and Chair of Williams Mullen’s Energy, Environment and Regulatory Section or any member of the Williams Mullen Energy team.