Virginia’s new law blocks counties from banning solar

As data centers drive electricity demand to new heights and consumers struggle with rising energy costs, cheap, clean power remains out of reach in much of Virginia: Nearly two-thirds of counties outright ban or severely restrict large solar farms.

But that’s about to change.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, last week enacted a new law that voids community-wide prohibitions on solar fields and establishes new siting guidelines for the facilities. Starting July 1, when the law takes effect, local governments can still deny permits to solar developers but must submit their rationale for doing so to state regulators.

“Localities still are in the driver’s seat here. They can still deny every project from now until the end of time if they want,” said Evan Vaughan, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Coalition, a nonprofit that represents over 50 large-scale solar, storage, and wind developers and manufacturers.

But, he added, given rising prices and pressures on farmers from tariffs and fertilizer shortages, ​“there may be more interest in rural communities to see solar projects and to at least hear them out about the benefits that they can provide.”

Virginia is fertile ground for large-scale solar.

The state requires its largest utilities to produce 100% renewable energy by 2050, and solar — combined with battery storage — is widely viewed as the lowest-cost way to meet that mandate. Solar arrays can be built more quickly than large gas power plants, making the carbon-free resource a vital way to meet growing energy demand in the state, which is the data center capital of the world. Solar is also insulated from the price volatility inherent to natural gas because it requires only the sun for fuel.

Even with widespread limitations on development, Virginia is No. 9 in the nation in installed solar capacity and gets almost 10% of its electricity from the clean energy source. Nationwide, solar and storage together are set to make up nearly 80% of new utility-scale electricity capacity built in the country this year, per U.S. Energy Information Administration data.

“Affordability is key,” Vaughan said. ​“Predictability is also key.”

Though the new law is no silver bullet, it’s been long sought by the renewables industry and by state Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, a Democrat who represents the Richmond suburbs and is one of its sponsors.