UPDATE ON AUTHORITY ACTIVITIES

The Authority held four meetings in 2024. During these meetings, industry leaders and experts presented information on issues impeding solar and storage development and deployment in the Commonwealth.

Authority members heard presentations covering local permitting issues, interconnection, the PJM market, and EV deployment. The Authority also spent time discussing the purpose and impacts of its past and future annual reports.

LOCAL PERMITTING FOR SOLAR PROJECTS

Joe Lerch, Director of Local Government Policy for the Virginia Association of Counties (VACO) provided some perspectives on solar energy and energy storage and the impacts being faced by different counties. He addressed how the amount of land being taken up by large solar projects has become a growing concern to VACO’s member counties. He also described how counties typically choose to regulate solar projects and the process which the local planning commissions review projects and typically produce a report and recommendations to the County Board of Supervisors to approve or deny the permit request.

Authority members spent time asking questions about policy standards and local ordinances. There was also significant discussion about Virginia’s growing energy demand and the growing pressure on rural localities to site projects to meet this demand.

PJM UPDATES ON INTERCONNECTION REFORMS AND THE CAPACITY MARKET

Scott Baker, Senior Lead Business Solutions Analyst of PJM presented to Authority members about various topics (interconnection reforms, capacity market, etc.) that are helping to ensure a reliable energy transition throughout the region. The Authority received a comprehensive overview of the primary roles of PJM and key data points about energy generation and reliability within the PJM region. Authority members asked question about interconnection queue reforms occurring at PJM aimed at reducing current interconnection backlogs.

ISSUES IMPACTING DEPLOYMENT OF EVS AND EV CHARGERS

Glenn Skutt, CTO of Fermata Energy presented to Authority members about the opportunities related to EV charging. Fermata is a maker of bi-directional EV charging platforms and Dr. Skutt discussed the current state of this technology and challenges to implementing widespread deployment. He also addressed general issues that may impede the deployment of EVs and EV chargers.

DISCUSSION OF VSEDESA ANNUAL REPORTS

The Authority also spent time discussing the purpose of the annual report and the statutory status of the Authority. The Authority engaged with leadership of the Virginia Department of Energy and the Office of the Attorney General to seek clarification on this matter. The Authority ultimately determined that it had the ability to draft and submit its own annual reports.