The first community solar program in Virginia was created in 2016 by BARC electric cooperative while the Rappahannock Electric Co-op, Northern Neck Electric Co-op and A&N Electric Co-op made their pilot community solar programs permanent in 2023.

At the state level, in 2020 Virginia established renewable energy goals through the Virginia Clean Economy Act which mandates that the state reach 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045 and 100% clean energy by 2050. Inside of this commitment, that same year the Commonwealth created a Shared Solar Program that provided customers of Dominion Energy Virginia the opportunity to participate in off-site community solar projects, while the Multi-Family Shared Solar Program allowed eligible multi-family customers of Dominion Energy and Kentucky Utilities to participate in onsite solar projects. The program also provided incentives for certain projects located on rooftops, brownfields, landfills or employing agrivoltaics.

Dominion’s program allows subscribers to purchase “blocks” to match a portion of their electricity use with solar energy and Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) or match 100% of their electricity use with solar energy and RECs.

The Virginia Shared Solar Program was initially capped at 150 MW and was later expanded to 200 MW and then again to 350 MW. If the initial 200 MW meets a 30% low-income participation requirement, an additional 50 MW may be added in the near future. The state has also added a 50 MW shared solar program in Appalachian Power Company territory.

All this represents an exciting opportunity for Virginia to employ the community solar model to meet its clean energy goals. While the actual operational capacity is still in development, a number of shared solar projects are active across the state. These include Dimension Energy’s 65 MW project phase made up of a number of operational projects as well as Dominion Energy’s operational projects totaling around 30 MW.

Standard Solar in Virginia

In recent years, Standard Solar has been leading the push to advance community solar in Virginia. We have supported approximately a dozen shared solar projects currently in Dominion Power’s queue and have provided investment dollars and services such as subscriber management and engineering and construction support to help drive deployment. In 2023 we acquired a 12 MW project portfolio in the Commonwealth from longtime partner @New Leaf Energy, with one system in Chatham and two in Kilmarnock. The completed and operational Kilmarnock projects, totalling 7 MW capacity, are entirely allocated to low- and moderate-income customers. Once the final project is completed by the end of this year, all three systems are expected to generate an estimated 19,811 MWh of clean energy each year.