SECTION 67-101. Energy objectives  

The Commonwealth recognizes each of the following objectives pertaining to energy issues will advance the health, welfare, and safety of the residents of the Commonwealth:

1. Ensuring an adequate energy supply and a Virginia-based energy production capacity;

2. Minimizing the Commonwealth's long-term exposure to volatility and increases in world energy prices through greater energy independence;

3. Ensuring the availability of reliable energy at costs that are reasonable and in quantities that will support the Commonwealth's economy;

4. Managing the rate of consumption of existing energy resources in relation to economic growth;

5. Establishing sufficient supply and delivery infrastructure to enable widespread deployment of distributed energy resources and to maintain reliable energy availability in the event of a disruption occurring to a portion of the Commonwealth's energy matrix;

6. Maximizing energy efficiency programs, which are the lowest-cost energy option to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in order to produce electricity cost savings and to create jobs and economic opportunity from the energy efficiency service sector;

7. Facilitating conservation;

8. Optimizing intrastate and interstate use of energy supply and delivery to maximize energy availability, reliability, and price opportunities to the benefit of all user classes and the Commonwealth's economy as stated in subdivision 2 of § 67-100 ;

9. Increasing Virginia's reliance on sources of energy that, compared to traditional energy resources, are less polluting of the Commonwealth's air and waters;

10. Establishing greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals across Virginia's economy sufficient to reach net-zero emissions by 2045, including the electric power, transportation, industrial, agricultural, building, and infrastructure sectors;

11. Requiring that pathways to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions be determined based on technical, policy, and economic analysis to maximize their effectiveness, optimize Virginia's economic development, and create quality jobs while minimizing adverse impacts on public health, affected communities, and the environment;

12. Developing energy resources necessary to produce 30 percent of Virginia's electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030 and 100 percent of Virginia's electricity from carbon-free sources by 2040;

13. Enabling widespread integration of distributed energy resources into the grid, including storage and carbon-free generation such as rooftop solar installations as defined in § 67-100 ;

14. Removing impediments to the use of carbon-free energy resources located within and outside the Commonwealth, including distributed renewable energy generation resources, nuclear power plants, and generation resources that employ carbon capture and sequestration;

15. Mitigating the negative impacts of climate change and the energy transition on disadvantaged communities and prioritizing investment in these communities;

16. Developing the carbon-free energy resources required to fully decarbonize the electric power supply of the Commonwealth, including deployment of 30 percent renewables by 2030 and realizing 100 percent carbon-free electric power by 2040;

17. Increasing Virginia's reliance on and production of sustainably produced biofuels made from traditional agricultural crops and other feedstocks, such as winter cover crops, warm season grasses, fast-growing trees, algae or other suitable feedstocks grown in the Commonwealth that will create jobs and income, produce clean-burning fuels that will help to improve air quality, and provide the new markets for Virginia's silvicultural and agricultural products needed to preserve farm employment, conserve farmland and forestland, and increase implementation of silvicultural and agricultural best management practices to protect water quality; and

18. Ensuring that decision making is transparent and includes opportunities for full participation by the public.

Except as provided in subsection D of § 67-100 , nothing in this section shall be deemed to abrogate or modify in any way the provisions of the Virginia Electric Utility Regulation Act (§ 67-100 et seq.).

2006, c. 67-100 ; 2008, c. 67-100 ; 2009, cc. 67-100 , 67-100 ; 2011, c. 67-100 ; 2012, c. 67-100 ; 2020, cc. 67-100 , 67-100 .