Virginia Law

An integrated resource plan shall:

1. Integrate, over the planning period, the electric utility's forecast of demand for electric generation supply with recommended plans to meet that forecasted demand and assure adequate and sufficient reliability of service, including:

a. Generating electricity from generation facilities that it currently operates or intends to construct or purchase;

b. Purchasing electricity from affiliates and third parties;

c. Reducing load growth and peak demand growth through cost-effective demand reduction programs, including the incorporation of such programs into virtual power plant aggregation;

d. Meeting the total energy savings targets required by subsection B of § 56-596.2; and

e. Utilizing energy storage resources to help meet forecasted demand and assure adequate and sufficient reliability of service, including by assessing the use of energy storage resources through appropriate modeling that accounts for economic charge and discharge times and represents various economic scenarios;

2. Identify a single preferred portfolio of electric generation and non-generation supply resources, including purchased and self-generated electric power, that best serves the public interest and that:

a. Consistent with § 56-585.1, is most likely to provide the electric generation supply needed to meet the forecasted demand, net of any reductions from demand side programs and applicable grid-enhancing technologies, so that over the long term the utility will continue to provide reliable service at reasonable prices that take into consideration the social cost of carbon;

b. Will consider low cost energy/capacity available from short-term or spot market transactions, consistent with a reasonable assessment of risk with respect to both price and generation supply availability over the term of the plan;

c. Relies on reputable long-term future cost projections for all fuels and technology types that reflect reasonable cost changes over the study period;

d. Includes the social cost of carbon as a component of generation operating costs for any facility emitting carbon dioxide as a byproduct of generation. Notwithstanding any national carbon dioxide pricing, the best estimate social cost of carbon shadow price shall not be less than the cost of carbon determined by the Commission pursuant to subdivision A 6 of § 56-585.1; and

e. Will meet the requirements for (i) the renewable portfolio standards program established under subsection C of § 56-585.5 and (ii) the retirement of electrical generating units that emit carbon as a byproduct of combusting fuel under subsection B of § 56-585.5;

3. Identify one or more least-cost portfolios of electric generation supply, demand-side, and grid-dispersed resources, including purchased and self-generated electric power, for the purposes of cost comparison that rely on reputable long-term future cost projections for all fuels and technology types that reflect reasonable cost changes over the study period, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Annual Technology Baseline publications. The least-cost portfolio may include one or more modeling scenarios that would require the utility to petition the Commission for relief under subdivision B 3 of § 56-585.5;

4. Include only modeling scenarios that meet the total energy savings targets required by subsection B of § 56-596.2. The integrated resource plan shall also include at least one modeling scenario, consistent with § 56-585.5, that exceeds such energy savings targets through maximized energy efficiency upgrades to homes and businesses; dynamic pricing to shift energy use to off-peak; battery storage, both utility and distributed; transmission line upgrades; grid-enhancing technology; virtual power plants that utilize aggregated demand response or storage; managed electric vehicle charging and vehicle-to-grid power; home and business electrification for enhanced grid utilization and associated revenue; known data center efficiency efforts and innovative data center tariffs approved by the Commission or offsetting investments in offsite energy efficiency upgrades; and optimized use of the interstate electric grid through long-term transmission planning;

5. Reflect a diversity of electric generation supply and cost-effective demand reduction contracts and services so as to reduce the risks associated with an over-reliance on any particular fuel or type of generation demand and supply resources and be consistent with the Commonwealth's energy policies as set forth in § 45.2-1706.1;

6. Include a detailed description of the reasons for any annual or cumulative limit that a utility places on the amount of new electric generation supply from a specific type of technology in any provided modeling scenario, including technological or socioeconomic factors;

7. Provide information related to forecasting the utility's compliance with the renewable energy portfolio standard obligations under § 56-585.5 over the planning period. In forecasting compliance with such obligations, the utility shall not include the compliance requirements associated with (i) accelerated renewable energy buyers under contract with the utility as provided in subsection G of § 56-585.5 or (ii) customers purchasing electric energy from a licensed supplier under § 56-577; and

8. Include such additional information as the Commission requests pertaining to how the electric utility intends to meets its obligation to provide electric generation service for use by its retail customers over the planning period, which shall include at least three modeling scenarios for energy capacity, supply, and demand over the planning period.

2008, cc. 476, 603; 2020, c. 1190; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 327; 2026, cc. 607, 608, 693, 1077.