Legislative Proposal from the Virginia Solar Collaborative
Canon facility in Gloucester: more than 2,000 solar panels with
a generating capacity of more than 500 kW
Raise the net-metering limit to 2,000 kW (from 500 kW) for nonresidential customers under the net-metering law in place
Net Metering in Virginia – how it works
•
Install meter that measures 2-way flow of electricity.
•
Customers are charged only for the “net” power that
they consume from the utility that has accumulated
over a designated period; or
•
If their renewable energy-generating systems make
more electricity than is consumed, they may be
credited or paid for the excess electricity contributed to
the grid over that same period.
Relevant parts of the law and regulations
•
"Renewable energy" includes solar, wind, hydro-power,
biomass, energy from waste, landfill gas, municipal solid
waste, wave motion, tides, and geothermal power
•
To be eligible the renewable generation must be “intended
primarily to offset all or part of the customer’s own
electricity requirements”
•
The utility may offer the choice of an account credit in lieu of
a direct payment.
•
The customer owns the RECs (renewable energy certificates)
Potential benefits to localities by raising the eligibility cap on nonresidential net metering
•
Increases the pool of
renewable energy projects
that could utilize netmetering
•
Provides greater financial
incentive for building on-site
renewable energy generation
ODU Student Rec Center: 600 solar panels with a
generating capacity of approx. 125 kW
Virtual (aka aggregate) Municipal Net Metering
SB 350 (Edwards) continued in 2014 General Assembly
Authorizes local governments to
aggregate the electric load of their
governmental buildings, facilities,
and any other governmental
operations for the purpose of net
energy metering from a renewable
energy generating facility
Possibilities other than solar…
• Wind turbines
• Landfill gas
• Sewage treatment
plants
HRSD Atlantic
Treatment Plant
Location of two,
1100 kW
methane engine
driven generators
Legislative Proposal from Virginia PACE Coalition
(Property Assessed Clean Energy)
Allow for PACE liens to have a status on par with tax lien assessments
How does PACE work?
•
Under Virginia law localities have the authority create a
clean energy loan program as a means of fostering the
installation of renewable energy systems and/or energy
efficiency improvements.
•
Repayment on loans can be combined with billings for water
and sewer charges or real property tax assessments and is
applicable to both residential and commercial property.
•
Allows for the cost of the energy improvements to travel
with the property if it is sold over the period of the loan
financing, thereby removing a key barrier for investment in
renewable energy and energy efficient systems.
Hydraulic Fracturing – Taylorsville Basin
• Estimated 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas
liquids - 37 million barrels
• 2½ times Virginia’s total annual consumption
of natural gas
• By comparison there is an estimated 410
trillion cubic feet in the Marcellus Shale in
Pennsylvania, New York, and West Virginia
Source: USGS
Shore Exploration & Production Company
Texas-based w/office in Bowling Green
More than 84,000 acres in leases to drill for natural gas
Essex County, Westmoreland County & Town of
Kilmarnock have passed resolutions asking the Governor,
Secretary of Commerce and Trade, and Secretary of
Natural Resources to complete a joint report that looks at
environmental, transportation, economic and regulatory
issues pertaining to oil and gas drilling in the Tidewater
region.
County
Caroline
Essex
King and Queen
King George
Westmoreland
Total:
Acres Leased
40,733.49
13,338.42
6,010.42
10,443.63
13,864.86
84,390.81
% of Total
Leased Acres
48.3%
15.8%
7.1%
12.4%
16.4%
% of County
11.6%
7.8%
2.9%
8.5%
8.4%
8.3% of fivecounty area
Potomac Water Aquifer
Taylorsville Basin
USGS/DEQ aquifer cross-section from Fredericksburg through King George, Westmoreland, Northumberland, and Accomack Counties.
SB 48 (Stuart) – Failed in 2014 General Assembly
• The bill as originally drafted would
have prohibited drilling for oil and gas
in the Easter Virginia Groundwater
Management Area
• Amended to state applications for
drilling cannot be approved by Virginia
DMME until the review, and any
necessary amendments to the water
quality regulations, has been completed
• Passed Senate and failed in House
Commerce & Labor Committee
Water Quality Funding
The Rising Costs of Stormwater Pollution in Virginia
VA Stormwater Local Assistance Fund – SLAF
• SLAF grants provide 50% matching funds to qualifying locality projects
that reduce stormwater pollution. The fund was created and seeded
with $35 million in bond proceeds by the 2013 General Assembly.
• Local Governments awarded $22.9 million for stormwater
improvements in FY 14.
Stormwater Local
Assistance Fund
Grants to
localities for
stormwater
improvements
HB 5002 (House
Budget)
Allocates $30 million
in GF dollars and $8
million in bonds in
FY15 for the
Stormwater Local
Assistance Fund
(SLAF).
McAuliffe Budget
Authorizes $20
million in bonding
authority for SLAF
grants in FY16.
SB 5003 (Senate
Budget)
Authorizes $20
million in bonding
authority for SLAF
grants in FY 15
Local Priorities Losing Ground
Major GF Budget Drivers FY 2006-16
160.0%
145.4%
140.0%
120.0%
96.7%
100.0%
80.0%
60.0%
48.5%
40.0%
All Programs 25.1%
21.3%
20.0%
19.1%
12.4%
0.0%
-2.0%
-20.0%
K-12
Education
Higher
Education
Behavioral
Health
Corrections
Source: http://www.dpb.virginia.gov/forms/20131216-1/BudgetDirectorsPresentation12-16-2013.pdf
Medicaid
Debt Service
All Other
15
Other Budget Items …
Helpful
DEQ is authorized to use SLAF funds to develop better data to
support local stormwater programs.
Troubling
Requires every locality with a SWM utility fee to report to DEQ:
• the programs funded by the fees; and
• the expected pollutants removed by each program.
City of Roanoke
suggested amendment to policy statement
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
Advances in technology for the extraction of natural gas known as “hydraulic fracturing” has the
potential to tap vast reserves in what are known as the Marcellus shale and Taylorsville Basin
deposits. Concerns about how the process of hydraulic fracturing, and the often undisclosed
chemical mixtures used, could impact both public and private groundwater supplies have been
raised both regionally and nationally. Additionally, evidence supports a probable link
between the increased incidence of earthquakes and other seismic activity in previously
seismically benign or inactive zones where the injection of wastewaters generated by
hydraulic fracturing has taken place. VML supports a state regulatory program that addresses
these concerns while protecting the authority of local governments to regulate this type of mining
activity through its land use ordinances.
City of Roanoke – Floating Trash Booms
Supports allowing localities the right to deploy water quality improvement measures in waters within
their jurisdictional boundaries, in instances where no adverse impacts to the watershed or the
navigability of the waterway can be readily documented.
This would mean no prior review or approval by VMRC, DEQ, and/or the US Army Corps of
Engineers.
This has become a significant impediment in ongoing efforts to pilot test the deployment of a simple
floating trash boom across a section of the Roanoke River or Tinker Creek.
Where this practice has been done elsewhere, the collections of trash, litter, and other debris has proven
substantial, resulting both esthetic and biochemical improvements, as well as a significant public
education and awareness resource.
At present this proposed practice is given the same prior review and approval treatment as substantial
in-water work projects like dredging, bridge abutment construction, channel alterations, and the like.