Virginia’s new energy plan: Make the AI boom work for — not against — us

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger released a new state energy plan on Oct. 1 that aims to meet the huge electricity demand from data centers while sticking with the state's clean energy law, the Virginia Clean Economy Act. That law requires utilities Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power to produce all carbon-free power by midcentury. Rather than scrapping the mandate, as some Republicans want, or freezing new data centers, as some environmental groups want, the plan lays out four ways utilities can hit that goal while still powering the data center boom, with electricity demand expected to grow 85 percent.

All four paths rely on large growth in solar farms and more "distributed energy," meaning solar panels and batteries installed at homes and businesses rather than big central power plants. Three of the four also lean on data centers cutting their power use during peak demand hours, relying instead on batteries or on-site clean energy. The idea is to keep regular households from footing the bill for new grid buildouts, since the plan estimates the tech industry could pay utilities $265 billion through 2050 toward the roughly $422 billion overall cost.

The plan also modeled what happens if Virginia drops its clean energy goals altogether: emissions nearly double, and health costs from added air pollution reach an estimated $145 billion, versus $90 billion saved on electricity costs. Republicans have pointed to that savings number as proof the law should be repealed. The plan carries no legal force, but Virginia's legislature and utility regulators are expected to use it as they weigh future power plant and data center decisions.