An Act to amend and reenact §§ 56-598 and 56-599 of the Code of Virginia, relating to electric utility integrated resource planning; energy storage resources.
HB893 amends Virginia’s integrated resource planning requirements for electric utilities. The bill updates the list of resources and planning factors utilities must consider when preparing an integrated resource plan (IRP), with a particular emphasis on energy storage resources. It directs utilities to incorporate storage into planning through appropriate modeling that accounts for charge and discharge timing and different economic scenarios, alongside generation, power purchases, and demand-side programs.
The bill also revises the IRP filing requirements and the factors utilities must evaluate in their plans. Utilities must continue to file updated IRPs on the existing schedule, and those plans must consider rate stability, energy independence, economic development, retention and expansion of energy-intensive industries, and service reliability. In preparing an IRP, utilities must systematically evaluate options such as long- and short-term power purchase contracts, owned generation, new generation construction, spot market purchases, demand-side resources, and energy storage resources.
HB893 changes §§ 56-598 and 56-599 of the Code of Virginia by expressly incorporating energy storage resources into the state’s utility planning framework and by refining the required contents of integrated resource plans. It affects electric utilities subject to Virginia’s IRP filing requirements and the State Corporation Commission’s oversight of utility planning, while also reinforcing existing statutory goals related to reliability, affordability, diversification of supply, and economic development.
No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no direct evidence of debate or opposition in the supplied materials. Based on the enacted text, the bill appears to reflect a policy consensus favoring broader utility planning tools and formal recognition of energy storage as a resource option. The absence of recorded controversy suggests the measure was either noncontroversial or at least not documented in the provided context.
The main policy issue embedded in the bill is how utilities should evaluate and prioritize energy storage alongside traditional generation, power purchases, and demand-side measures. Potential points of contention in a broader debate would likely include the cost of storage deployment, the reliability of modeled storage assumptions, and whether the bill sufficiently balances clean-energy planning with rate stability and affordability. However, no specific objections, amendments, or opposing viewpoints are included in the supplied discussion materials.