Dominion will develop systems greater than 2MWs in size and third-party developers will develop systems less than 2MWs in size. While not all the details are defined, the Commonwealth will purchase the power from both the Dominion and third-party systems.In order to deploy these systems, Dominion and the third-party developers will identify appropriate sites with agencies who wish to secure a portion of their energy from solar power. The specifics of individual projects or groups of projects will determine deployment timelines and pricing.
Other Dominion customers will not experience a rate change because of this agreement. Any costs associated with this program will be paid by the state. Francis Hodsoll, MDV-SEIA Virginia Chair, notes that “this state procurement provides another opportunity for utility owned solar generation to exists side-by-side with third-party owned solar. Earlier this year Dominion initiated a rate case based on utilizing a “market index” for pricing power from rate based assets. Potentially, this market will evolve whereby each actor focuses on their core strengths.”
MDV-SEIA has been working with the administration on this program and will continue to do so through the design and roll out of the competitive procurement mechanism for the 25 percent of capacity to be handed by the third party market. We will update our members as the procurement is further developed.
