Dominion Energy IRP Relies Heavily on Fossil Fuels

RICHMOND, Virginia – Yesterday, Dominion Energy filed their corrected 2018 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP): a long-range forecast of electricity demand and how the monopoly utility intends to meet that demand.

In December, the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) rejected the 2018 IRP, in its entirety for the first time ever, due to Dominion’s failure to fully meet the requirements of 2018's Senate Bill 966, omitting a least-cost plan and overinflating load forecasts. The corrected 2018 IRP again confirms that Dominion Energy’s reliance on their own modeling has not been in the best interest of Virginians.

Through the required use of PJM’s coincident peak load and energy sales forecast data, it is clearly shown that Dominion has been justifying costly projects, that are not needed for Virginia’s energy demand, and that these projects only benefit their shareholders, not ratepayers. Dominion plans to rely heavily on fracked gas well into the next decade despite state-wide demand for clean energy.

Kate Addleson, Sierra Club Virginia Chapter Director responded with the following:

"Once again, Dominion has produced a plan that lacks clean energy and justifies its need for fossil fuels, increasing carbon pollution and forcing the bill on its customers.

While it says differently, Dominion doesn’t seem interested in clean energy investments according to the company's revised integrated resource plan. This seems out of touch  due to the current commitments from big companies that aim to source 100% of their energy from clean, renewable sources. Last year we saw Microsoft announce the largest corporate solar agreement in the United States by committing to buy energy from solar farms right here in Virginia. Dominion is still providing misleading information and recommending dirty energy of the past instead of propelling our future forward."