Virginia Solar Energy Licensing Law

Virginia Code · 53 sections

The following is the full text of Virginia’s solar energy licensing law statutes as published in the Virginia Code. For the official version, see the Virginia Legislature.

Va. Code § 15.2-2103.1

§ 15.2-2103.1. Solar services agreements; nondisclosure of proprietary information.A. A solar services agreement may be structured as a service agreement or may be subject to available appropriation. B. Nothing in this article shall be construed to require the disclosure of proprietary information voluntarily provided by a private entity in connection with a franchise, lease, or use under a solar services agreement that is excluded from mandatory disclosure pursuant to subdivision 29 of § 2.2-3705.6 of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.2-3700 et seq.). C. Nothing in this section, however, shall be construed as authorizing the withholding of the financial terms of such agreements. 2017, c. 737.

Va. Code § 15.2-2232

§ 15.2-2232. Legal status of plan.A. Whenever a local planning commission recommends a comprehensive plan or part thereof for the locality and such plan has been approved and adopted by the governing body, it shall control the general or approximate location, character and extent of each feature shown on the plan. Thereafter, unless a feature is already shown on the adopted master plan or part thereof or is deemed so under subsection D, no street or connection to an existing street, park or other public area, public building or public structure, public utility facility or public service corporation facility other than a railroad facility or an underground natural gas or underground electric distribution facility of a public utility as defined in subdivision (b) of § 56-265.1 within its certificated service territory, whether publicly or privately owned, shall be constructed, established or authorized, unless and until the general location or approximate location, character, and extent thereof has been submitted to and approved by the commission as being substantially in accord with the adopted comprehensive plan or part thereof. In connection with any such determination, the commission may, and at the direction of the governing body shall, hold a public hearing, after notice as required by § 15.2-2204. Following the adoption of the Statewide Transportation Plan by the Commonwealth Transportation Board pursuant to § 33.2-353 and written notification to the affected local governments, each local government through which one or more of the designated corridors of statewide significance traverses, shall, at a minimum, note such corridor or corridors on the transportation plan map included in its comprehensive plan for information purposes at the next regular update of the transportation plan map. Prior to the next regular update of the transportation plan map, the local government shall acknowledge the existence of corridors of statewide significance within its boundaries. B. The commission shall communicate its findings to the governing body, indicating its approval or disapproval with written reasons therefor. The governing body may overrule the action of the commission by a vote of a majority of its membership. Failure of the commission to act within 60 days of a submission, unless the time is extended by the governing body, shall be deemed approval. The owner or owners or their agents may appeal the decision of the commission to the governing body within 10 days after the decision of the commission. The appeal shall be by written petition to the governing body setting forth the reasons for the appeal. The appeal shall be heard and determined within 60 days from its filing. A majority vote of the governing body shall overrule the commission. C. Widening, narrowing, extension, enlargement, vacation or change of use of streets or public areas shall likewise be submitted for approval, but paving, repair, reconstruction, improvement, drainage or similar work and normal service extensions of public utilities or public service corporations shall not require approval unless such work involves a change in location or extent of a street or public area. D. Any public area, facility, park or use as set forth in subsection A which is identified within, but not the entire subject of, a submission under either § 15.2-2258 for subdivision or subdivision A 8 of § 15.2-2286 for development or both may be deemed a feature already shown on the adopted master plan, and, therefore, excepted from the requirement for submittal to and approval by the commission or the governing body, provided that the governing body has by ordinance or resolution defined standards governing the construction, establishment or authorization of such public area, facility, park or use or has approved it through acceptance of a proffer made pursuant to § 15.2-2303. E. Approval and funding of a public telecommunications facility on or before July 1, 2012, by the Virginia Public Broadcasting Board pursuant to Article 12 (§ 2.2-2426 et seq.) of Chapter 24 of Title 2.2 or after July 1, 2012, by the Board of Education pursuant to § 22.1-20.1 shall be deemed to satisfy the requirements of this section and local zoning ordinances with respect to such facility with the exception of television and radio towers and structures not necessary to house electronic apparatus. The exemption provided for in this subsection shall not apply to facilities existing or approved by the Virginia Public Telecommunications Board prior to July 1, 1990. The Board of Education shall notify the governing body of the locality in advance of any meeting where approval of any such facility shall be acted upon. F. On any application for a telecommunications facility, the commission's decision shall comply with the requirements of the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996. Failure of the commission to act on any such application for a telecommunications facility under subsection A submitted on or after July 1, 1998, within 90 days of such submission shall be deemed approval of the application by the commission unless the governing body has authorized an extension of time for consideration or the applicant has agreed to an extension of time. The governing body may extend the time required for action by the local commission by no more than 60 additional days. If the commission has not acted on the application by the end of the extension, or by the end of such longer period as may be agreed to by the applicant, the application is deemed approved by the commission. G. A proposed telecommunications tower or a facility constructed by an entity organized pursuant to Chapter 9.1 (§ 56-231.15 et seq.) of Title 56 shall be deemed to be substantially in accord with the comprehensive plan and commission approval shall not be required if the proposed telecommunications tower or facility is located in a zoning district that allows such telecommunications towers or facilities by right. H. A solar facility subject to subsection A shall be deemed to be substantially in accord with the comprehensive plan if (i) such proposed solar facility is located in a zoning district that allows such solar facilities by right; (ii) such proposed solar facility is designed to serve the electricity or thermal needs of the property upon which such facility is located, or will be owned or operated by an eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator under § 56-594 or 56-594.01 or by a small agricultural generator under § 56-594.2; or (iii) the locality waives the requirement that solar facilities be reviewed for substantial accord with the comprehensive plan. All other solar facilities shall be reviewed for substantial accord with the comprehensive plan in accordance with this section. However, a locality may allow for a substantial accord review for such solar facilities to be advertised and approved concurrently in a public hearing process with a rezoning, special exception, or other approval process. Code 1950, §§ 15-909, 15-923, 15-964.10; 1958, c. 389; 1960, c. 567; 1962, c. 407, § 15.1-456; 1964, c. 528; 1966, c. 596; 1968, c. 290; 1975, c. 641; 1976, c. 291; 1978, c. 584; 1982, c. 39; 1987, c. 312; 1989, c. 532; 1990, c. 633; 1997, cc. 587, 858; 1998, c. 683; 2007, c. 801; 2009, cc. 670, 690; 2012, cc. 803, 835; 2016, c. 613; 2018, cc. 175, 318; 2020, c. 665; 2022, c. 181. Article 4. The Official Map.

Va. Code § 15.2-2241.2

§ 15.2-2241.2. Bonding provisions for decommissioning of solar energy equipment, facilities, or devices.A. As used in this section, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Decommission" means the removal and proper disposal of solar energy equipment, facilities, or devices on real property that has been determined by the locality to be subject to § 15.2-2232 and therefore subject to this section. "Decommission" includes the reasonable restoration of the real property upon which such solar equipment, facilities, or devices are located, including (i) soil stabilization and (ii) revegetation of the ground cover of the real property disturbed by the installation of such equipment, facilities, or devices. "Solar energy equipment, facilities, or devices" means any personal property designed and used primarily for the purpose of collecting, generating, or transferring electric energy from sunlight. B. As part of the local legislative approval process or as a condition of approval of a site plan, a locality shall require an owner, lessee, or developer of real property subject to this section to enter into a written agreement to decommission solar energy equipment, facilities, or devices upon the following terms and conditions: (i) if the party that enters into such written agreement with the locality defaults in the obligation to decommission such equipment, facilities, or devices in the timeframe set out in such agreement, the locality has the right to enter the real property of the record title owner of such property without further consent of such owner and to engage in decommissioning, and (ii) such owner, lessee, or developer provides financial assurance of such performance to the locality in the form of certified funds, cash escrow, bond, letter of credit, or parent guarantee, based upon an estimate of a professional engineer licensed in the Commonwealth, who is engaged by the applicant, with experience in preparing decommissioning estimates and approved by the locality; such estimate shall not exceed the total of the projected cost of decommissioning, which may include the net salvage value of such equipment, facilities, or devices, plus a reasonable allowance for estimated administrative costs related to a default of the owner, lessee, or developer, and an annual inflation factor. 2019, cc. 743, 744.

Va. Code § 15.2-2242

§ 15.2-2242. Optional provisions of a subdivision ordinance.A subdivision ordinance may include: 1. Provisions for variations in or exceptions to the general regulations of the subdivision ordinance in cases of unusual situations or when strict adherence to the general regulations would result in substantial injustice or hardship. 2. A requirement (i) for the furnishing of a preliminary opinion from the applicable health official regarding the suitability of a subdivision for installation of subsurface sewage disposal systems where such method of sewage disposal is to be utilized in the development of a subdivision and (ii) that all buildings constructed on lots resulting from subdivision of a larger tract that abuts or adjoins a public water or sewer system or main shall be connected to that public water or sewer system or main subject to the provisions of § 15.2-2121. 3. A requirement that, in the event streets in a subdivision will not be constructed to meet the standards necessary for inclusion in the secondary system of state highways or for state street maintenance moneys paid to municipalities, the subdivision plat and all approved deeds of subdivision, or similar instruments, must contain a statement advising that the streets in the subdivision do not meet state standards and will not be maintained by the Department of Transportation or the localities enacting the ordinances. Grantors of any subdivision lots to which such statement applies must include the statement on each deed of conveyance thereof. However, localities in their ordinances may establish minimum standards for construction of streets that will not be built to state standards. For streets constructed or to be constructed, as provided for in this subsection, a subdivision ordinance may require that the same procedure be followed as that set forth in provision 5 of § 15.2-2241. Further, the subdivision ordinance may provide that the developer's financial commitment shall continue until such time as the local government releases such financial commitment in accordance with provision 11 of § 15.2-2241. 4. Reasonable provision for the voluntary funding of off-site road improvements and reimbursements of advances by the governing body. If a subdivider or developer makes an advance of payments for or construction of reasonable and necessary road improvements located outside the property limits of the land owned or controlled by him, the need for which is substantially generated and reasonably required by the construction or improvement of his subdivision or development, and such advance is accepted, the governing body may agree to reimburse the subdivider or developer from such funds as the governing body may make available for such purpose from time to time for the cost of such advance together with interest, which shall be excludable from gross income for federal income tax purposes, at a rate equal to the rate of interest on bonds most recently issued by the governing body on the following terms and conditions: a. The governing body shall determine or confirm that the road improvements were substantially generated and reasonably required by the construction or improvement of the subdivision or development and shall determine or confirm the cost thereof, on the basis of a study or studies conducted by qualified traffic engineers and approved and accepted by the subdivider or developer. b. The governing body shall prepare, or cause to be prepared, a report accepted and approved by the subdivider or developer, indicating the governmental services required to be furnished to the subdivision or development and an estimate of the annual cost thereof for the period during which the reimbursement is to be made to the subdivider or developer. c. The governing body may make annual reimbursements to the subdivider or developer from funds made available for such purpose from time to time, including but not limited to real estate taxes assessed and collected against the land and improvements on the property included in the subdivision or development in amounts equal to the amount by which such real estate taxes exceed the annual cost of providing reasonable and necessary governmental services to such subdivision or development. 5. In Arlington County, Fairfax County, Loudoun County, and Prince William County, in any town located within such counties, in Bedford County, Pittsylvania County, Spotsylvania County, and Stafford County, or in the Cities of Alexandria, Chesapeake, Fairfax, Falls Church, Hampton, Manassas, Manassas Park, and Portsmouth, provisions for payment by a subdivider or developer of land of a pro rata share of the cost of reasonable and necessary road improvements, located outside the property limits of the land owned or controlled by him but serving an area having related traffic needs to which his subdivision or development will contribute, to reimburse an initial subdivider or developer who has advanced such costs or constructed such road improvements. Such ordinance may apply to road improvements constructed after July 1, 1988, in Fairfax County; in Arlington County, Loudoun County, and Prince William County, in any town located within such counties, in Bedford County, Pittsylvania County, Spotsylvania County, and Stafford County, or in the Cities of Alexandria, Chesapeake, Fairfax, Falls Church, Hampton, Manassas, Manassas Park, and Portsmouth, such ordinance may only apply to road improvements constructed after the effective date of such ordinance. Such provisions shall provide for the adoption of a pro rata reimbursement plan which shall include reasonable standards to identify the area having related traffic needs, to determine the total estimated or actual cost of road improvements required to adequately serve the area when fully developed in accordance with the comprehensive plan or as required by proffered conditions, and to determine the proportionate share of such costs to be reimbursed by each subsequent subdivider or developer within the area, with interest (i) at the legal rate or (ii) at an inflation rate prescribed by a generally accepted index of road construction costs, whichever is less. For any subdivision ordinance adopted pursuant to provision 5 of this section after February 1, 1993, no such payment shall be assessed or imposed upon a subsequent developer or subdivider if (i) prior to the adoption of a pro rata reimbursement plan the subsequent subdivider or developer has proffered conditions pursuant to § 15.2-2303 for offsite road improvements and such proffered conditions have been accepted by the locality, (ii) the locality has assessed or imposed an impact fee on the subsequent development or subdivision pursuant to Article 8 (§ 15.2-2317 et seq.) of Chapter 22, or (iii) the subsequent subdivider or developer has received final site plan, subdivision plan, or plan of development approval from the locality prior to the adoption of a pro rata reimbursement plan for the area having related traffic needs. The amount of the costs to be reimbursed by a subsequent developer or subdivider shall be determined before or at the time the site plan or subdivision is approved. The ordinance shall specify that such costs are to be collected at the time of the issuance of a temporary or final certificate of occupancy or functional use and occupancy within the development, whichever shall come first. The ordinance also may provide that the required reimbursement may be paid (i) in lump sum, (ii) by agreement of the parties on installment at a reasonable rate of interest or rate of inflation, whichever is less, for a fixed number of years, or (iii) on such terms as otherwise agreed to by the initial and subsequent subdividers and developers. Such ordinance provisions may provide that no certificate of occupancy shall be issued to a subsequent developer or subdivider until (i) the initial developer certifies to the locality that the subsequent developer has made the required reimbursement directly to him as provided above or (ii) the subsequent developer has deposited the reimbursement amount with the locality for transfer forthwith to the initial developer. 6. Provisions for establishing and maintaining access to solar energy to encourage the use of solar heating and cooling devices in new subdivisions. The provisions shall be applicable to a new subdivision only when so requested by the subdivider. 7. Provisions, in any town with a population between 14,500 and 15,000, granting authority to the governing body, in its discretion, to use funds escrowed pursuant to provision 5 of § 15.2-2241 for improvements similar to but other than those for which the funds were escrowed, if the governing body (i) obtains the written consent of the owner or developer who submitted the escrowed funds; (ii) finds that the facilities for which funds are escrowed are not immediately required; (iii) releases the owner or developer from liability for the construction or for the future cost of constructing those improvements for which the funds were escrowed; and (iv) accepts liability for future construction of these improvements. If such town fails to locate such owner or developer after making a reasonable attempt to do so, the town may proceed as if such consent had been granted. In addition, the escrowed funds to be used for such other improvement may only come from an escrow that does not exceed a principal amount of $30,000 plus any accrued interest and shall have been escrowed for at least five years. 8. Provisions for clustering of single-family dwellings and preservation of open space developments, which provisions shall comply with the requirements and procedures set forth in § 15.2-2286.1. 9. Provisions requiring that where a lot being subdivided or developed fronts on an existing street, and adjacent property on either side has an existing sidewalk or when the provision of a sidewalk, the need for which is substantially generated and reasonably required by the proposed development, is in accordance with the locality's adopted comprehensive plan, a locality may require the dedication of land for, and construction of, a sidewalk on the property being subdivided or developed. Nothing in this paragraph shall alter in any way any authority of localities or the Department of Transportation to require sidewalks on any newly constructed street or highway. 10. Provisions for requiring and considering Phase I environmental site assessments based on the anticipated use of the property proposed for the subdivision or development that meet generally accepted national standards for such assessments, such as those developed by the American Society for Testing and Materials, and Phase II environmental site assessments, that also meet accepted national standards, such as, but not limited to, those developed by the American Society for Testing and Materials, if the locality deems such to be reasonably necessary, based on findings in the Phase I assessment, and in accordance with regulations of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the American Society for Testing and Materials. A reasonable fee may be charged for the review of such environmental assessments. Such fees shall not exceed an amount commensurate with the services rendered, taking into consideration the time, skill, and administrative expense involved in such review. 11. Provisions for requiring disclosure and remediation of contamination and other adverse environmental conditions of the property prior to approval of subdivision and development plans. 12. Provisions, in any town located in the Northern Virginia Transportation District, granting authority to the governing body to require the dedication of land for sidewalk, curb, and gutter improvements on the property being subdivided or developed if the property is designated for such improvements on the locality's adopted pedestrian plan. Code 1950, §§ 15-781, 15-967.1; 1950, p. 183; 1962, c. 407, § 15.1-466; 1970, c. 436; 1973, cc. 169, 480; 1975, c. 641; 1976, c. 270; 1978, cc. 429, 439, 440; 1979, cc. 183, 188, 395; 1980, cc. 379, 381; 1981, c. 348; 1983, cc. 167, 609; 1984, c. 111; 1985, cc. 422, 455; 1986, c. 54; 1987, c. 717; 1988, cc. 279, 735; 1989, cc. 332, 393, 403, 495; 1990, cc. 170, 176, 287, 708, 973; 1991, cc. 30, 47, 288, 538; 1992, c. 380; 1993, cc. 836, 846, 864; 1994, c. 421; 1995, cc. 386, 388, 389, 452, 457, 474; 1996, cc. 77, 325, 452, 456; 1997, c. 587; 2000, cc. 652, 711; 2002, c. 703; 2005, c. 567; 2006, cc. 421, 514, 533, 903; 2007, c. 813; 2014, c. 619; 2018, c. 550; 2019, cc. 461, 462.

Va. Code § 15.2-2286

§ 15.2-2286. Permitted provisions in zoning ordinances; amendments; applicant to pay delinquent taxes; penalties.A. A zoning ordinance may include, among other things, reasonable regulations and provisions as to any or all of the following matters: 1. For variances or special exceptions, as defined in § 15.2-2201, to the general regulations in any district. 2. For the temporary application of the ordinance to any property coming into the territorial jurisdiction of the governing body by annexation or otherwise, subsequent to the adoption of the zoning ordinance, and pending the orderly amendment of the ordinance. 3. For the granting of special exceptions under suitable regulations and safeguards; notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, the governing body of any locality may reserve unto itself the right to issue such special exceptions. Conditions imposed in connection with residential special use permits, wherein the applicant proposes affordable housing, shall be consistent with the objective of providing affordable housing. When imposing conditions on residential projects specifying materials and methods of construction or specific design features, the approving body shall consider the impact of the conditions upon the affordability of housing. Conditions may include the period of validity for a special exception or special use permit; however, in the case of a special exception or special use permit for residential projects, the period of validity shall be no less than three years. The governing body or the board of zoning appeals of the Cities of Hampton and Norfolk may impose a condition upon any special exception or use permit relating to retail alcoholic beverage control licensees which provides that such special exception or use permit will automatically expire upon a change of ownership of the property, a change in possession, a change in the operation or management of a facility, or the passage of a specific period of time. The governing body of the City of Richmond may impose a condition upon any special use permit issued after July 1, 2000, relating to retail alcoholic beverage licensees which provides that such special use permit shall be subject to an automatic review by the governing body upon a change in possession, a change in the owner of the business, or a transfer of majority control of the business entity. Upon review by the governing body, it may either amend or revoke the special use permit after notice and a public hearing as required by § 15.2-2206. 4. For the administration and enforcement of the ordinance including the appointment or designation of a zoning administrator who may also hold another office in the locality. The zoning administrator shall have all necessary authority on behalf of the governing body to administer and enforce the zoning ordinance. His authority shall include (i) ordering in writing the remedying of any condition found in violation of the ordinance; (ii) insuring compliance with the ordinance, bringing legal action, including injunction, abatement, or other appropriate action or proceeding subject to appeal pursuant to § 15.2-2311; and (iii) in specific cases, making findings of fact and, with concurrence of the attorney for the governing body, conclusions of law regarding determinations of rights accruing under § 15.2-2307 or subsection C of § 15.2-2311. Whenever the zoning administrator has reasonable cause to believe that any person has engaged in or is engaging in any violation of a zoning ordinance that limits occupancy in a residential dwelling unit, which is subject to a civil penalty that may be imposed in accordance with the provisions of § 15.2-2209, and the zoning administrator, after a good faith effort to obtain the data or information necessary to determine whether a violation has occurred, has been unable to obtain such information, he may request that the attorney for the locality petition the judge of the general district court for his jurisdiction for a subpoena duces tecum against any such person refusing to produce such data or information. The judge of the court, upon good cause shown, may cause the subpoena to be issued. Any person failing to comply with such subpoena shall be subject to punishment for contempt by the court issuing the subpoena. Any person so subpoenaed may apply to the judge who issued the subpoena to quash it. Notwithstanding the provisions of § 15.2-2311, a zoning ordinance may prescribe an appeal period of less than 30 days, but not less than 10 days, for a notice of violation involving (a) the storage or disposal of nonagricultural excavation material, waste, and debris or (b) temporary or seasonal commercial uses, parking of commercial trucks in residential zoning districts, maximum occupancy limitations of a residential dwelling unit, or similar short-term, recurring violations. Where provided by ordinance, the zoning administrator may be authorized to grant a modification from any provision contained in the zoning ordinance with respect to physical requirements on a lot or parcel of land, including but not limited to size, height, location or features of or related to any building, structure, or improvements, if the administrator finds in writing that: (1) the strict application of the ordinance would produce undue hardship; (2) such hardship is not shared generally by other properties in the same zoning district and the same vicinity; and (3) the authorization of the modification will not be of substantial detriment to adjacent property and the character of the zoning district will not be changed by the granting of the modification. Prior to the granting of a modification, the zoning administrator shall give, or require the applicant to give, all adjoining property owners written notice of the request for modification, and an opportunity to respond to the request within 21 days of the date of the notice. The zoning administrator shall make a decision on the application for modification and issue a written decision with a copy provided to the applicant and any adjoining landowner who responded in writing to the notice sent pursuant to this paragraph. The decision of the zoning administrator shall constitute a decision within the purview of § 15.2-2311, and may be appealed to the board of zoning appeals as provided by that section. Decisions of the board of zoning appeals may be appealed to the circuit court as provided by § 15.2-2314. The zoning administrator shall respond within 90 days of a request for a decision or determination on zoning matters within the scope of his authority unless the requester has agreed to a longer period. If the decision or determination by the zoning administrator could impair the ability of an adjacent property owner to satisfy the minimum storage capacity and yield requirements for a residential drinking well pursuant to § 32.1-176.4 or any regulation adopted thereunder, the zoning administrator shall provide a copy of such decision or determination to such adjacent property owner so affected. 5. For the imposition of penalties upon conviction of any violation of the zoning ordinance. Any such violation shall be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000. If the violation is uncorrected at the time of the conviction, the court shall order the violator to abate or remedy the violation in compliance with the zoning ordinance, within a time period established by the court. Failure to remove or abate a zoning violation within the specified time period shall constitute a separate misdemeanor offense punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000; any such failure during a succeeding 10-day period shall constitute a separate misdemeanor offense punishable by a fine of not more than $1,500; and any such failure during any succeeding 10-day period shall constitute a separate misdemeanor offense for each 10-day period punishable by a fine of not more than $2,000. However, any conviction resulting from a violation of provisions regulating the storage or disposal of nonagricultural excavation material, waste, and debris shall be punishable by a fine of $2,000. Failure to abate the violation within the specified time period shall be punishable by a fine of $5,000, and any such failure during any succeeding 10-day period shall constitute a separate misdemeanor offense for each 10-day period punishable by a fine of $7,500. However, any conviction resulting from a violation of provisions regulating the number of unrelated persons in single-family residential dwellings shall be punishable by a fine of up to $2,000. Failure to abate the violation within the specified time period shall be punishable by a fine of up to $5,000, and any such failure during any succeeding 10-day period shall constitute a separate misdemeanor offense for each 10-day period punishable by a fine of up to $7,500. However, no such fine shall accrue against an owner or managing agent of a single-family residential dwelling unit during the pendency of any legal action commenced by such owner or managing agent of such dwelling unit against a tenant to eliminate an overcrowding condition in accordance with the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (§ 55.1-1200 et seq.). A conviction resulting from a violation of provisions regulating the number of unrelated persons in single-family residential dwellings shall not be punishable by a jail term. 6. For the collection of fees to cover the cost of making inspections, issuing permits, advertising of notices and other expenses incident to the administration of a zoning ordinance or to the filing or processing of any appeal or amendment thereto. 7. For the amendment of the regulations or district maps from time to time, or for their repeal. Whenever the public necessity, convenience, general welfare, or good zoning practice requires, the governing body may by ordinance amend, supplement, or change the regulations, district boundaries, or classifications of property. Any such amendment may be initiated (i) by resolution of the governing body; (ii) by motion of the local planning commission; or (iii) by petition of the owner, contract purchaser with the owner's written consent, or the owner's agent therefor, of the property which is the subject of the proposed zoning map amendment, addressed to the governing body or the local planning commission, who shall forward such petition to the governing body; however, the ordinance may provide for the consideration of proposed amendments only at specified intervals of time, and may further provide that substantially the same petition will not be reconsidered within a specific period, not exceeding one year. Any such resolution or motion by such governing body or commission proposing the rezoning shall state the above public purposes therefor. In any county having adopted such zoning ordinance, all motions, resolutions or petitions for amendment to the zoning ordinance, and/or map shall be acted upon and a decision made within such reasonable time as may be necessary which shall not exceed 12 months unless the applicant requests or consents to action beyond such period or unless the applicant withdraws his motion, resolution or petition for amendment to the zoning ordinance or map, or both. In the event of and upon such withdrawal, processing of the motion, resolution or petition shall cease without further action as otherwise would be required by this subdivision. 8. For the submission and approval of a plan of development prior to the issuance of building permits to assure compliance with regulations contained in such zoning ordinance. 9. For areas and districts designated for mixed use developments or planned unit developments as defined in § 15.2-2201. 10. For the administration of incentive zoning as defined in § 15.2-2201. 11. For provisions allowing the locality to enter into a voluntary agreement with a landowner that would result in the downzoning of the landowner's undeveloped or underdeveloped property in exchange for a tax credit equal to the amount of excess real estate taxes that the landowner has paid due to the higher zoning classification. The locality may establish reasonable guidelines for determining the amount of excess real estate tax collected and the method and duration for applying the tax credit. For purposes of this section, "downzoning" means a zoning action by a locality that results in a reduction in a formerly permitted land use intensity or density. 12. Provisions for requiring and considering Phase I environmental site assessments based on the anticipated use of the property proposed for the subdivision or development that meet generally accepted national standards for such assessments, such as those developed by the American Society for Testing and Materials, and Phase II environmental site assessments, that also meet accepted national standards, such as, but not limited to, those developed by the American Society for Testing and Materials, if the locality deems such to be reasonably necessary, based on findings in the Phase I assessment, and in accordance with regulations of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the American Society for Testing and Materials. A reasonable fee may be charged for the review of such environmental assessments. Such fees shall not exceed an amount commensurate with the services rendered, taking into consideration the time, skill, and administrative expense involved in such review. 13. Provisions to incorporate generally accepted national environmental protection and product safety standards for the use of solar panels and battery technologies for solar photovoltaic (electric energy) projects, such as those developed for existing product certifications and standards including the National Sanitation Foundation/American National Standards Institute No. 457, International Electrotechnical Commission No. 61215-2, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standard 1547, and Underwriters Laboratories No. 61730-2. 14. Provisions for requiring disclosure and remediation of contamination and other adverse environmental conditions of the property prior to approval of subdivision and development plans. 15. For the enforcement of provisions of the zoning ordinance that regulate the number of persons permitted to occupy a single-family residential dwelling unit, provided such enforcement is in compliance with applicable local, state and federal fair housing laws. 16. For the issuance of inspection warrants by a magistrate or court of competent jurisdiction. The zoning administrator or his agent may make an affidavit under oath before a magistrate or court of competent jurisdiction and, if such affidavit establishes probable cause that a zoning ordinance violation has occurred, request that the magistrate or court grant the zoning administrator or his agent an inspection warrant to enable the zoning administrator or his agent to enter the subject dwelling for the purpose of determining whether violations of the zoning ordinance exist. After issuing a warrant under this section, the magistrate or judge shall file the affidavit in the manner prescribed by § 19.2-54. After executing the warrant, the zoning administrator or his agents shall return the warrant to the clerk of the circuit court of the city or county wherein the inspection was made. The zoning administrator or his agent shall make a reasonable effort to obtain consent from the owner or tenant of the subject dwelling prior to seeking the issuance of an inspection warrant under this section. B. Prior to the initiation of an application by the owner of the subject property, the owner's agent, or any entity in which the owner holds an ownership interest greater than 50 percent, for a special exception, special use permit, variance, rezoning or other land disturbing permit, including building permits and erosion and sediment control permits, or prior to the issuance of final approval, the authorizing body may require the applicant to produce satisfactory evidence that any delinquent real estate taxes, nuisance charges, stormwater management utility fees, and any other charges that constitute a lien on the subject property, that are owed to the locality and have been properly assessed against the subject property, have been paid, unless otherwise authorized by the treasurer. Code 1950, § 15-968.5; 1962, c. 407, § 15.1-491; 1964, c. 564; 1966, c. 455; 1968, cc. 543, 595; 1973, c. 286; 1974, c. 547; 1975, cc. 99, 575, 579, 582, 641; 1976, cc. 71, 409, 470, 683; 1977, c. 177; 1978, c. 543; 1979, c. 182; 1982, c. 44; 1983, c. 392; 1984, c. 238; 1987, c. 8; 1988, cc. 481, 856; 1989, cc. 359, 384; 1990, cc. 672, 868; 1992, c. 380; 1993, c. 672; 1994, c. 802; 1995, cc. 351, 475, 584, 603; 1996, c. 451; 1997, cc. 529, 543,; 1998, c. 385; 1999, c. 792; 2000, cc. 764, 817; 2001, c. 240; 2002, cc. 547, 703; 2005, cc. 625, 677; 2006, cc. 304, 514, 533, 903; 2007, cc. 821, 937; 2008, cc. 297, 317, 343, 581, 593, 720, 777; 2009, c. 721; 2012, cc. 304, 318; 2014, c. 354; 2017, c. 398; 2018, c. 726; 2020, cc. 312, 402, 442, 443, 893, 894; 2024, c. 301; 2025, c. 519.

Va. Code § 15.2-2288.7

§ 15.2-2288.7. Local regulation of solar facilities.A. An owner of a residential dwelling unit may install a solar facility on the roof of such dwelling to serve the electricity or thermal needs of that dwelling, provided that such installation is (i) in compliance with any height and setback requirements in the zoning district where such property is located and (ii) in compliance with any provisions pertaining to any local historic, architectural preservation, or corridor protection district adopted pursuant to § 15.2-2306 where such property is located. Unless a local ordinance provides otherwise, a ground-mounted solar energy generation facility to be located on property zoned residential shall be permitted, provided that such installation is (a) in compliance with any height and setback requirements in the zoning district where such property is located and (b) in compliance with any provisions pertaining to any local historic, architectural preservation, or corridor protection district adopted pursuant to § 15.2-2306 where such property is located. Except as provided herein, any other solar facility proposed on property zoned residential, including any solar facility that is designed to serve, or serves, the electricity or thermal needs of any property other than the property where such facilities are located, shall be subject to any applicable zoning regulations of the locality. B. An owner of real property zoned agricultural may install a solar facility on the roof of a residential dwelling on such property, or on the roof of another building or structure on such property, to serve the electricity or thermal needs of that property upon which such facilities are located, provided that such installation is (i) in compliance with any height and setback requirements in the zoning district where such property is located and (ii) in compliance with any provisions pertaining to any local historic, architectural preservation, or corridor protection district adopted pursuant to § 15.2-2306 where such property is located. Unless a local ordinance provides otherwise, a ground-mounted solar energy generation facility to be located on property zoned agricultural and to be operated under § 56-594 or 56-594.2 shall be permitted, provided that such installation is (a) in compliance with any height and setback requirements in the zoning district where such property is located and (b) in compliance with any provisions pertaining to any local historic, architectural preservation, or corridor protection district adopted pursuant to § 15.2-2306 where such property is located. Except as otherwise provided herein, any other solar facility proposed on property zoned agricultural, including any solar facility that is designed to serve, or serves, the electricity or thermal needs of any property other than the property where such facilities are located, shall be subject to any applicable zoning regulations of the locality. C. An owner of real property zoned commercial, industrial, or institutional may install a solar facility on the roof of one or more buildings located on such property to serve the electricity or thermal needs of that property upon which such facilities are located, provided that such installation is (i) in compliance with any height and setback requirements in the zoning district where such property is located and (ii) in compliance with any provisions pertaining to any local historic, architectural preservation, or corridor protection district adopted pursuant to § 15.2-2306 where such property is located. Unless a local ordinance provides otherwise, a ground-mounted solar energy generation facility to be located on property zoned commercial, industrial, or institutional shall be permitted, provided that such installation is (a) in compliance with any height and setback requirements in the zoning district where such property is located and (b) in compliance with any provisions pertaining to any local historic, architectural preservation, or corridor protection district adopted pursuant to § 15.2-2306 where such property is located. Except as otherwise provided herein, any other solar facility proposed on property zoned commercial, industrial, or institutional, including any solar facility that is designed to serve, or serves, the electricity or thermal needs of any property other than the property where such facilities are located, shall be subject to any applicable zoning regulations of the locality. D. An owner of real property zoned mixed-use may install a solar facility on the roof of one or more buildings located on such property to serve the electricity or thermal needs of that property upon which such facilities are located, provided that such installation is (i) in compliance with any height and setback requirements in the zoning district where such property is located and (ii) in compliance with any provisions pertaining to any local historic, architectural preservation, or corridor protection district adopted pursuant to § 15.2-2306 where such property is located. Unless a local ordinance provides otherwise, a ground-mounted solar energy generation facility to be located on property zoned mixed-use shall be permitted, provided that such installation is (a) in compliance with any height and setback requirements in the zoning district where such property is located and (b) in compliance with any provisions pertaining to any local historic, architectural preservation, or corridor protection district adopted pursuant to § 15.2-2306 where such property is located. Except as provided herein, any other solar facility proposed on property zoned mixed-use, including any solar facility that is designed to serve, or serves, the electricity or thermal needs of any property other than the property where such facilities are located, shall be subject to any applicable zoning regulations of the locality. E. Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede or limit contracts or agreements between or among individuals or private entities related to the use of real property, including recorded declarations and covenants, the provisions of condominium instruments of a condominium created pursuant to the Virginia Condominium Act (§ 55.1-1900 et seq.), the declaration of a common interest community as defined in § 54.1-2345, the cooperative instruments of a cooperative created pursuant to the Virginia Real Estate Cooperative Act (§ 55.1-2100 et seq.), or any declaration of a property owners' association created pursuant to the Property Owners' Association Act (§ 55.1-1800 et seq.). F. A locality, by ordinance, may provide by-right authority for installation of solar facilities in any zoning classification in addition to that provided in this section. A locality may also, by ordinance, require a property owner or an applicant for a permit pursuant to the Uniform Statewide Building Code (§ 36-97 et seq.) who removes solar panels to dispose of such panels in accordance with such ordinance in addition to other applicable laws and regulations affecting such disposal. 2018, cc. 495, 496.

Va. Code § 15.2-2288.8

§ 15.2-2288.8. Special exceptions for solar photovoltaic projects.A. Any locality may grant a special exception pursuant to § 15.2-2286, and include in its zoning ordinance reasonable regulations and provisions for a special exception as defined in § 15.2-2201, for any solar photovoltaic (electric energy) project or energy storage project. For the purposes of this section, "energy storage project" means energy storage equipment and technology within an energy storage project that is capable of absorbing energy, storing such energy for a period of time, and redelivering such energy after it has been stored. B. The governing body of such locality may grant a condition that includes (i) dedication of real property of substantial value or (ii) substantial cash payments for or construction of substantial public improvements, the need for which is not generated solely by the granting of a conditional use permit, so long as such conditions are reasonably related to the project. C. Once a condition is granted pursuant to subsection B, such condition shall continue in effect until a subsequent amendment changes the zoning on the property for which the conditions were granted. However, such conditions shall continue if the subsequent amendment is part of a comprehensive implementation of a new or substantially revised zoning ordinance. 2020, cc. 385, 414; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 57, 58.

Va. Code § 15.2-2316.6

§ 15.2-2316.6. Definitions.As used in this article, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Energy storage facilities" means the energy storage equipment and technology within an energy storage project that is capable of absorbing energy, storing such energy for a period of time, and redelivering such energy after it has been stored. "Energy storage project" means the energy storage facilities within the project site. "Host locality" means any locality within the jurisdictional boundaries of which construction of a commercial solar project or an energy storage project is proposed. "Solar facilities" means commercial solar photovoltaic (electric energy) generation facilities. "Solar facilities" does not include any solar project that is (i) described in § 56-594, 56-594.01, 56-594.02, or 56-594.2, or (ii) five megawatts or less. "Solar project" means the solar facilities, subject to this chapter, that are within the project site. 2020, c. 802; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 57, 58.

Va. Code § 15.2-2316.7

§ 15.2-2316.7. Negotiations; siting agreement.A. Any applicant for a solar project or an energy storage project shall give to the host locality written notice of the applicant's intent to locate in such locality and request a meeting. Such applicant shall meet, discuss, and negotiate a siting agreement with such locality. B. The siting agreement may include terms and conditions, including (i) mitigation of any impacts of such solar project or energy storage project; (ii) financial compensation to the host locality to address capital needs set out in the (a) capital improvement plan adopted by the host locality, (b) current fiscal budget of the host locality, or (c) fiscal fund balance policy adopted by the host locality; or (iii) assistance by the applicant in the deployment of broadband, as defined in § 56-585.1:9, in such locality. 2020, c. 802; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 57, 58.

Va. Code § 15.2-2316.8

§ 15.2-2316.8. Powers of host localities.A. The governing body of a host locality shall have the power to: 1. Hire and pay consultants and other experts on behalf of the host locality in matters pertaining to the siting of a solar project or energy storage project; 2. Meet, discuss, and negotiate a siting agreement with an applicant; and 3. Enter into a siting agreement with an applicant that is binding upon the governing body of the host locality and enforceable against it and future governing bodies of the host locality in any court of competent jurisdiction by signing a siting agreement pursuant to this article. Such contract may be assignable at the parties' option. B. If the parties to the siting agreement agree upon the terms and conditions of a siting agreement, the host locality shall schedule a public hearing, pursuant to subsection A of § 15.2-2204, for the purpose of consideration of such siting agreement. If a majority of a quorum of the members of the governing body present at such public hearing approve of such siting agreement, the siting agreement shall be executed by the signatures of (i) the chief executive officer of the host locality and (ii) the applicant or the applicant's authorized agent. The siting agreement shall continue in effect until it is amended, revoked, or suspended. 2020, c. 802; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 57, 58.

Va. Code § 15.2-2316.9

§ 15.2-2316.9. Effect of executed siting agreement; land use approval.A. Nothing in this article shall be construed to exempt an applicant from any other applicable requirements to obtain approvals and permits under federal, state, or local ordinances and regulations. An applicant may file for appropriate land use approvals for the solar project or energy storage project, as applicable, under the regulations and ordinances of the host locality at or after the time the applicant submits its notice of intent to site a solar project or energy storage project as set forth in subsection A of § 15.2-2316.7. B. Nothing in this article shall affect the authority of the host locality to enforce its ordinances and regulations to the extent that they are not inconsistent with the terms and conditions of the siting agreement. C. Approval of a siting agreement by the local governing body in accordance with subsection B of § 15.2-2316.8 shall deem the solar project or energy storage project to be substantially in accord with the comprehensive plan of the host locality, thereby satisfying the requirements of § 15.2-2232. D. The failure of an applicant and the governing body to enter into a siting agreement may be a factor in the decision of the governing body in the consideration of any land use approvals for a solar project or energy storage project, but shall not be the sole reason for a denial of such land use approvals. 2020, c. 802; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 57, 58. Article 8. Road Impact Fees.

Va. Code § 2.2-2279

§ 2.2-2279. Short title; definitions.A. This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Virginia Small Business Financing Act." B. As used in this article, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Business enterprise" means any (i) industry for the manufacturing, processing, assembling, storing, warehousing, servicing, distributing, or selling of any products of agriculture, mining, or industry or professional services; (ii) commercial enterprise making sales or providing services to industries described in clause (i); (iii) enterprise for research and development, including scientific laboratories; (iv) not-for-profit entity operating in the Commonwealth; (v) entity acquiring, constructing, improving, maintaining, or operating a qualified transportation facility under the Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995 (§ 33.2-1800 et seq.); (vi) entity acquiring, constructing, improving, maintaining, or operating a qualified energy project; (vii) entity acquiring, constructing, improving, maintaining, or operating a qualified pollution control project; (viii) entity that modernizes public school buildings or facilities pursuant to Article 3 (§ 22.1-141.1 et seq.) of Chapter 9 of Title 22.1; or (ix) other business as will be in furtherance of the public purposes of this article. "Cost," as applied to the eligible business, means the cost of construction; the cost of acquisition of all lands, structures, rights-of-way, franchises, easements, and other property rights and interests; the cost of demolishing, removing, rehabilitating, or relocating any buildings or structures on lands acquired, including the cost of acquiring any such lands to which such buildings or structures may be moved, rehabilitated, or relocated; the cost of all labor, materials, machinery and equipment, financing charges, letter of credit or other credit enhancement fees, insurance premiums, interest on all bonds prior to and during construction or acquisition and, if deemed advisable by the Authority, for a period not exceeding one year after completion of such construction or acquisition, cost of engineering, financial and legal services, plans, specifications, studies, surveys, estimates of cost and of revenues, commissions, guaranty fees, other expenses necessary or incident to determining the feasibility or practicality of constructing, financing, or operating a project of an eligible business; administrative expenses, provisions for working capital, reserves for interest and for extensions, enlargements, additions, improvements and replacements, and such other expenses as may be necessary or incidental to the construction or acquisition of a project of an eligible business or the financing of such construction, acquisition, or expansion and the placing of a project of an eligible business in operation. Any obligation or expense incurred by the Commonwealth or any agency thereof, with the approval of the Authority for studies, surveys, borings, preparation of plans and specifications, or other work or materials in connection with the construction or acquisition of a project of an eligible business may be regarded as a part of the cost of a project of an eligible business and may be reimbursed to the Commonwealth or any agency thereof out of the proceeds of the bonds issued therefor. "Eligible business" means any person engaged in one or more business enterprises in the Commonwealth that satisfies one or more of the following requirements: (i) is a for-profit enterprise that (a) has received $10 million or less in annual gross income under generally accepted accounting principles for each of its last three fiscal years or lesser time period if it has been in existence less than three years, (b) has fewer than 250 employees, (c) has a net worth of $2 million or less, (d) exists for the sole purpose of developing or operating a qualified transportation facility under the Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995 (§ 33.2-1800 et seq.), (e) exists for the primary purpose of developing or operating a qualified energy project, (f) is required by state or federal law to develop or operate a qualified pollution control project, or (g) meets such other satisfactory requirements as the Board shall determine from time to time if it finds and determines such person is in need of its assistance or (ii) is a not-for-profit entity granted tax-exempt status under § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and operating in the Commonwealth. "Federal Act" means the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, 15 U.S.C. § 661 et seq., as amended from time to time. "Indenture" means any trust agreement, deed of trust, mortgage, or other security agreement under which bonds authorized pursuant to this article shall be issued or secured. "Internal Revenue Code" means the federal Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. "Lender" means any federal- or state-chartered bank, federal land bank, production credit association, bank for cooperatives, federal- or state-chartered savings institution, building and loan association, small business investment company, or any other financial institution qualified within the Commonwealth to originate and service loans, including insurance companies, credit unions, investment banking or brokerage companies, and mortgage loan companies. "Loan" means any lease, loan agreement, or sales contract defined as follows: 1. "Lease" means any lease containing an option to purchase the project or projects of the eligible business being financed for a nominal sum upon payment in full, or provision thereof, of all bonds issued in connection with the eligible business and all interest thereon and principal of and premium, if any, thereon and all other expenses in connection therewith. 2. "Loan agreement" means an agreement providing for a loan of proceeds from the sale and issuance of bonds by the Authority or by a lender with which the Authority has contracted to loan such proceeds to one or more contracting parties to be used to pay the cost of one or more projects of an eligible business and providing for the repayment of such loan including all interest thereon, and principal of and premium, if any, thereon and all other expenses in connection therewith, by such contracting party or parties and which may provide for such loans to be secured or evidenced by one or more notes, debentures, bonds, or other secured or unsecured debt obligations of such contracting party or parties, delivered to the Authority or to a trustee under an indenture pursuant to which the bonds were issued. 3. "Sales contract" means a contract providing for the sale of one or more projects of an eligible business to one or more contracting parties and includes a contract providing for payment of the purchase price including all interest thereon, and principal of and premium, if any, thereon and all other expenses in connection therewith, in one or more installments. If the sales contract permits title to a project being sold to an eligible business to pass to such contracting party or parties prior to payment in full of the entire purchase price, it also shall provide for such contracting party or parties to deliver to the Authority or to the trustee under the indenture pursuant to which the bonds were issued, one or more notes, debentures, bonds, or other secured or unsecured debt obligations of such contracting party or parties providing for timely payments of the purchase price thereof. "Municipality" means any county or incorporated city or town in the Commonwealth. "Preferred lender" means a bank that is subject to continuing supervision and examination by state or federal chartering, licensing, or similar regulatory authority satisfactory to the Authority and that meets the eligibility requirements established by the Authority. "Qualified energy project" means a solar-powered or wind-powered electricity generation facility located in the Commonwealth on premises owned or leased by an eligible customer-generator, as defined in § 56-594, the electricity generated from which is sold exclusively to the eligible customer-generator under a power purchase agreement used to provide third party financing of the costs of such a renewable generation facility (third party power purchase agreement) pursuant to a pilot program established under Chapter 382 of the Acts of Assembly of 2013. "Qualified pollution control project" means environmental pollution control and prevention equipment certified by the business enterprise or eligible business as being needed to comply with the federal Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. § 7401 et seq.), the federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.), or the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq.). "Revenues" means any and all fees, rates, rentals, profits, and receipts collected by, payable to, or otherwise derived by, the Authority, and all other moneys and income of whatsoever kind or character collected by, payable to, or otherwise derived by, the Authority in connection with loans to any eligible business in furtherance of the purposes of this article. "Statewide Development Company" means the corporation chartered under this article for purposes of qualification as a state development company as such term is defined in the Federal Act. 1984, c. 749, §§ 9-197, 9-199; 1996, c. 77; 2001, c. 844; 2003, c. 339; 2008, c. 744; 2009, c. 565; 2014, c. 732; 2019, cc. 818, 819.

Va. Code § 2.2-3705.6

§ 2.2-3705.6. Exclusions to application of chapter; proprietary records and trade secrets.The following information contained in a public record is excluded from the mandatory disclosure provisions of this chapter but may be disclosed by the custodian in his discretion, except where such disclosure is prohibited by law. Redaction of information excluded under this section from a public record shall be conducted in accordance with § 2.2-3704.01. 1. Proprietary information gathered by or for the Virginia Port Authority as provided in § 62.1-132.4 or 62.1-134.1. 2. Financial statements not publicly available filed with applications for industrial development financings in accordance with Chapter 49 (§ 15.2-4900 et seq.) of Title 15.2. 3. Proprietary information, voluntarily provided by private business pursuant to a promise of confidentiality from a public body, used by the public body for business, trade, and tourism development or retention; and memoranda, working papers, or other information related to businesses that are considering locating or expanding in Virginia, prepared by a public body, where competition or bargaining is involved and where disclosure of such information would adversely affect the financial interest of the public body. 4. Information that was filed as confidential under the Toxic Substances Information Act (§ 32.1-239 et seq.), as such Act existed prior to July 1, 1992. 5. Fisheries data that would permit identification of any person or vessel, except when required by court order as specified in § 28.2-204. 6. Confidential financial statements, balance sheets, trade secrets, and revenue and cost projections provided to the Department of Rail and Public Transportation, provided such information is exempt under the federal Freedom of Information Act or the federal Interstate Commerce Act or other laws administered by the Surface Transportation Board or the Federal Railroad Administration with respect to data provided in confidence to the Surface Transportation Board and the Federal Railroad Administration. 7. Proprietary information related to inventory and sales, voluntarily provided by private energy suppliers to the Department of Energy, used by that Department for energy contingency planning purposes or for developing consolidated statistical information on energy supplies. 8. Confidential proprietary information furnished to the Board of Medical Assistance Services or the Medicaid Prior Authorization Advisory Committee pursuant to Article 4 (§ 32.1-331.12 et seq.) of Chapter 10 of Title 32.1. 9. Proprietary, commercial or financial information, balance sheets, trade secrets, and revenue and cost projections provided by a private transportation business to the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation for the purpose of conducting transportation studies needed to obtain grants or other financial assistance under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (P.L. 105-178) for transportation projects if disclosure of such information is exempt under the federal Freedom of Information Act or the federal Interstate Commerce Act or other laws administered by the Surface Transportation Board or the Federal Railroad Administration with respect to data provided in confidence to the Surface Transportation Board and the Federal Railroad Administration. However, the exclusion provided by this subdivision shall not apply to any wholly owned subsidiary of a public body. 10. Confidential information designated as provided in subsection F of § 2.2-4342 as trade secrets or proprietary information by any person in connection with a procurement transaction or by any person who has submitted to a public body an application for prequalification to bid on public construction projects in accordance with subsection B of § 2.2-4317. 11. a. Memoranda, staff evaluations, or other information prepared by the responsible public entity, its staff, outside advisors, or consultants exclusively for the evaluation and negotiation of proposals filed under the Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995 (§ 33.2-1800 et seq.) or the Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002 (§ 56-575.1 et seq.) where (i) if such information was made public prior to or after the execution of an interim or a comprehensive agreement, § 33.2-1820 or 56-575.17 notwithstanding, the financial interest or bargaining position of the public entity would be adversely affected and (ii) the basis for the determination required in clause (i) is documented in writing by the responsible public entity; and b. Information provided by a private entity to a responsible public entity, affected jurisdiction, or affected local jurisdiction pursuant to the provisions of the Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995 (§ 33.2-1800 et seq.) or the Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002 (§ 56-575.1 et seq.) if disclosure of such information would reveal (i) trade secrets of the private entity; (ii) financial information of the private entity, including balance sheets and financial statements, that are not generally available to the public through regulatory disclosure or otherwise; or (iii) other information submitted by the private entity where if such information was made public prior to the execution of an interim agreement or a comprehensive agreement, the financial interest or bargaining position of the public or private entity would be adversely affected. In order for the information specified in clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) to be excluded from the provisions of this chapter, the private entity shall make a written request to the responsible public entity: (1) Invoking such exclusion upon submission of the data or other materials for which protection from disclosure is sought; (2) Identifying with specificity the data or other materials for which protection is sought; and (3) Stating the reasons why protection is necessary. The responsible public entity shall determine whether the requested exclusion from disclosure is necessary to protect the trade secrets or financial information of the private entity. To protect other information submitted by the private entity from disclosure, the responsible public entity shall determine whether public disclosure prior to the execution of an interim agreement or a comprehensive agreement would adversely affect the financial interest or bargaining position of the public or private entity. The responsible public entity shall make a written determination of the nature and scope of the protection to be afforded by the responsible public entity under this subdivision. Once a written determination is made by the responsible public entity, the information afforded protection under this subdivision shall continue to be protected from disclosure when in the possession of any affected jurisdiction or affected local jurisdiction. Except as specifically provided in subdivision 11 a, nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to authorize the withholding of (a) procurement records as required by § 33.2-1820 or 56-575.17; (b) information concerning the terms and conditions of any interim or comprehensive agreement, service contract, lease, partnership, or any agreement of any kind entered into by the responsible public entity and the private entity; (c) information concerning the terms and conditions of any financing arrangement that involves the use of any public funds; or (d) information concerning the performance of any private entity developing or operating a qualifying transportation facility or a qualifying project. For the purposes of this subdivision, the terms "affected jurisdiction," "affected local jurisdiction," "comprehensive agreement," "interim agreement," "qualifying project," "qualifying transportation facility," "responsible public entity," and "private entity" shall mean the same as those terms are defined in the Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995 (§ 33.2-1800 et seq.) or in the Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002 (§ 56-575.1 et seq.). 12. Confidential proprietary information or trade secrets, not publicly available, provided by a private person or entity pursuant to a promise of confidentiality to the Virginia Resources Authority or to a fund administered in connection with financial assistance rendered or to be rendered by the Virginia Resources Authority where, if such information were made public, the financial interest of the private person or entity would be adversely affected. 13. Trade secrets or confidential proprietary information that is not generally available to the public through regulatory disclosure or otherwise, provided by a (i) bidder or applicant for a franchise or (ii) franchisee under Chapter 21 (§ 15.2-2100 et seq.) of Title 15.2 to the applicable franchising authority pursuant to a promise of confidentiality from the franchising authority, to the extent the information relates to the bidder's, applicant's, or franchisee's financial capacity or provision of new services, adoption of new technologies or implementation of improvements, where such new services, technologies, or improvements have not been implemented by the franchisee on a nonexperimental scale in the franchise area, and where, if such information were made public, the competitive advantage or financial interests of the franchisee would be adversely affected. In order for trade secrets or confidential proprietary information to be excluded from the provisions of this chapter, the bidder, applicant, or franchisee shall (a) invoke such exclusion upon submission of the data or other materials for which protection from disclosure is sought, (b) identify the data or other materials for which protection is sought, and (c) state the reason why protection is necessary. No bidder, applicant, or franchisee may invoke the exclusion provided by this subdivision if the bidder, applicant, or franchisee is owned or controlled by a public body or if any representative of the applicable franchising authority serves on the management board or as an officer of the bidder, applicant, or franchisee. 14. Information of a proprietary or confidential nature furnished by a supplier or manufacturer of charitable gaming supplies to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (i) pursuant to subsection E of § 18.2-340.34 and (ii) pursuant to regulations promulgated by the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services related to approval of electronic and mechanical equipment. 15. Information related to Virginia apple producer sales provided to the Virginia State Apple Board pursuant to § 3.2-1215. 16. Trade secrets submitted by CMRS providers as defined in § 56-484.12 to the former Wireless Carrier E-911 Cost Recovery Subcommittee created pursuant to former § 56-484.15, relating to the provision of wireless E-911 service. 17. Information relating to a grant or loan application, or accompanying a grant or loan application, to the Commonwealth Health Research Board pursuant to Chapter 5.3 (§ 32.1-162.23 et seq.) of Title 32.1 if disclosure of such information would (i) reveal proprietary business or research-related information produced or collected by the applicant in the conduct of or as a result of study or research on medical, rehabilitative, scientific, technical, technological, or scholarly issues, when such information has not been publicly released, published, copyrighted, or patented, and (ii) be harmful to the competitive position of the applicant. 18. Confidential proprietary information and trade secrets developed and held by a local public body (i) providing telecommunication services pursuant to § 56-265.4:4 and (ii) providing cable television services pursuant to Article 1.1 (§ 15.2-2108.2 et seq.) of Chapter 21 of Title 15.2 if disclosure of such information would be harmful to the competitive position of the locality. In order for confidential proprietary information or trade secrets to be excluded from the provisions of this chapter, the locality in writing shall (a) invoke the protections of this subdivision, (b) identify with specificity the information for which protection is sought, and (c) state the reasons why protection is necessary. However, the exemption provided by this subdivision shall not apply to any authority created pursuant to the BVU Authority Act (§ 15.2-7200 et seq.). 19. Confidential proprietary information and trade secrets developed by or for a local authority created in accordance with the Virginia Wireless Service Authorities Act (§ 15.2-5431.1 et seq.) to provide qualifying communications services as authorized by Article 5.1 (§ 56-484.7:1 et seq.) of Chapter 15 of Title 56, where disclosure of such information would be harmful to the competitive position of the authority, except that information required to be maintained in accordance with § 15.2-2160 shall be released. 20. Trade secrets or financial information of a business, including balance sheets and financial statements, that are not generally available to the public through regulatory disclosure or otherwise, provided to the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity as part of an application for certification as a small, women-owned, or minority-owned business in accordance with Chapter 16.1 (§ 2.2-1603 et seq.). In order for such trade secrets or financial information to be excluded from the provisions of this chapter, the business shall (i) invoke such exclusion upon submission of the data or other materials for which protection from disclosure is sought, (ii) identify the data or other materials for which protection is sought, and (iii) state the reasons why protection is necessary. 21. Information of a proprietary or confidential nature disclosed by a carrier to the State Health Commissioner pursuant to §§ 32.1-276.5:1 and 32.1-276.7:1. 22. Trade secrets, including, but not limited to, financial information, including balance sheets and financial statements, that are not generally available to the public through regulatory disclosure or otherwise, and revenue and cost projections supplied by a private or nongovernmental entity to the State Inspector General for the purpose of an audit, special investigation, or any study requested by the Office of the State Inspector General in accordance with law. In order for the information specified in this subdivision to be excluded from the provisions of this chapter, the private or nongovernmental entity shall make a written request to the State Inspector General: a. Invoking such exclusion upon submission of the data or other materials for which protection from disclosure is sought; b. Identifying with specificity the data or other materials for which protection is sought; and c. Stating the reasons why protection is necessary. The State Inspector General shall determine whether the requested exclusion from disclosure is necessary to protect the trade secrets or financial information of the private entity. The State Inspector General shall make a written determination of the nature and scope of the protection to be afforded by it under this subdivision. 23. Information relating to a grant application, or accompanying a grant application, submitted to the Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission that would (i) reveal (a) trade secrets, (b) financial information of a grant applicant that is not a public body, including balance sheets and financial statements, that are not generally available to the public through regulatory disclosure or otherwise, or (c) research-related information produced or collected by the applicant in the conduct of or as a result of study or research on medical, rehabilitative, scientific, technical, technological, or scholarly issues, when such information has not been publicly released, published, copyrighted, or patented, and (ii) be harmful to the competitive position of the applicant; and memoranda, staff evaluations, or other information prepared by the Commission or its staff exclusively for the evaluation of grant applications. The exclusion provided by this subdivision shall apply to grants that are consistent with the powers of and in furtherance of the performance of the duties of the Commission pursuant to § 3.2-3103. In order for the information specified in this subdivision to be excluded from the provisions of this chapter, the applicant shall make a written request to the Commission: a. Invoking such exclusion upon submission of the data or other materials for which protection from disclosure is sought; b. Identifying with specificity the data, information or other materials for which protection is sought; and c. Stating the reasons why protection is necessary. The Commission shall determine whether the requested exclusion from disclosure is necessary to protect the trade secrets, financial information, or research-related information of the applicant. The Commission shall make a written determination of the nature and scope of the protection to be afforded by it under this subdivision. 24. a. Information held by the Commercial Space Flight Authority relating to rate structures or charges for the use of projects of, the sale of products of, or services rendered by the Authority if disclosure of such information would adversely affect the financial interest or bargaining position of the Authority or a private entity providing the information to the Authority; or b. Information provided by a private entity to the Commercial Space Flight Authority if disclosure of such information would (i) reveal (a) trade secrets of the private entity; (b) financial information of the private entity, including balance sheets and financial statements, that are not generally available to the public through regulatory disclosure or otherwise; or (c) other information submitted by the private entity and (ii) adversely affect the financial interest or bargaining position of the Authority or private entity. In order for the information specified in clauses (a), (b), and (c) of subdivision 24 b to be excluded from the provisions of this chapter, the private entity shall make a written request to the Authority: (1) Invoking such exclusion upon submission of the data or other materials for which protection from disclosure is sought; (2) Identifying with specificity the data or other materials for which protection is sought; and (3) Stating the reasons why protection is necessary. The Authority shall determine whether the requested exclusion from disclosure is necessary to protect the trade secrets or financial information of the private entity. To protect other information submitted by the private entity from disclosure, the Authority shall determine whether public disclosure would adversely affect the financial interest or bargaining position of the Authority or private entity. The Authority shall make a written determination of the nature and scope of the protection to be afforded by it under this subdivision. 25. Information of a proprietary nature furnished by an agricultural landowner or operator to the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, or any political subdivision, agency, or board of the Commonwealth pursuant to §§ 10.1-104.7, 10.1-104.8, and 10.1-104.9, other than when required as part of a state or federal regulatory enforcement action. 26. Trade secrets provided to the Department of Environmental Quality pursuant to the provisions of § 10.1-1458. In order for such trade secrets to be excluded from the provisions of this chapter, the submitting party shall (i) invoke this exclusion upon submission of the data or materials for which protection from disclosure is sought, (ii) identify the data or materials for which protection is sought, and (iii) state the reasons why protection is necessary. 27. Information of a proprietary nature furnished by a licensed public-use airport to the Department of Aviation for funding from programs administered by the Department of Aviation or the Virginia Aviation Board, where if such information was made public, the financial interest of the public-use airport would be adversely affected. In order for the information specified in this subdivision to be excluded from the provisions of this chapter, the public-use airport shall make a written request to the Department of Aviation: a. Invoking such exclusion upon submission of the data or other materials for which protection from disclosure is sought; b. Identifying with specificity the data or other materials for which protection is sought; and c. Stating the reasons why protection is necessary. 28. Information relating to a grant, loan, or investment application, or accompanying a grant, loan, or investment application, submitted to the Commonwealth of Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (the Authority) established pursuant to Article 11 (§ 2.2-2351 et seq.) of Chapter 22, an advisory committee of the Authority, or any other entity designated by the Authority to review such applications, to the extent that such records would (i) reveal (a) trade secrets; (b) financial information of a party to a grant, loan, or investment application that is not a public body, including balance sheets and financial statements, that are not generally available to the public through regulatory disclosure or otherwise; or (c) research-related information produced or collected by a party to the application in the conduct of or as a result of study or research on medical, rehabilitative, scientific, technical, technological, or scholarly issues, when such information has not been publicly released, published, copyrighted, or patented, and (ii) be harmful to the competitive position of a party to a grant, loan, or investment application; and memoranda, staff evaluations, or other information prepared by the Authority or its staff, or a reviewing entity designated by the Authority, exclusively for the evaluation of grant, loan, or investment applications, including any scoring or prioritization documents prepared for and forwarded to the Authority. 29. Proprietary information, voluntarily provided by a private business pursuant to a promise of confidentiality from a public body, used by the public body for a solar services or carbon sequestration agreement, where disclosure of such information would (i) reveal (a) trade secrets of the private business; (b) financial information of the private business, including balance sheets and financial statements, that are not generally available to the public through regulatory disclosure or otherwise; or (c) other information submitted by the private business and (ii) adversely affect the financial interest or bargaining position of the public body or private business. In order for the information specified in clauses (i)(a), (b), and (c) to be excluded from the provisions of this chapter, the private business shall make a written request to the public body: a. Invoking such exclusion upon submission of the data or other materials for which protection from disclosure is sought; b. Identifying with specificity the data or other materials for which protection is sought; and c. Stating the reasons why protection is necessary. 30. Information contained in engineering and construction drawings and plans submitted for the sole purpose of complying with the Building Code in obtaining a building permit if disclosure of such information would identify specific trade secrets or other information that would be harmful to the competitive position of the owner or lessee. However, such information shall be exempt only until the building is completed. Information relating to the safety or environmental soundness of any building shall not be exempt from disclosure. 31. Trade secrets, including, but not limited to, financial information, including balance sheets and financial statements that are not generally available to the public through regulatory disclosure or otherwise, and revenue and cost projections supplied by a private or nongovernmental entity to the Virginia Department of Transportation for the purpose of an audit, special investigation, or any study requested by the Virginia Department of Transportation in accordance with law. In order for the records specified in this subdivision to be excluded from the provisions of this chapter, the private or nongovernmental entity shall make a written request to the Department: a. Invoking such exclusion upon submission of the data or other materials for which protection from disclosure is sought; b. Identifying with specificity the data or other materials for which protection is sought; and c. Stating the reasons why protection is necessary. The Virginia Department of Transportation shall determine whether the requested exclusion from disclosure is necessary to protect trade secrets or financial records of the private entity. The Virginia Department of Transportation shall make a written determination of the nature and scope of the protection to be afforded by it under this subdivision. 32. Information related to a grant application, or accompanying a grant application, submitted to the Department of Housing and Community Development that would (i) reveal (a) trade secrets, (b) financial information of a grant applicant that is not a public body, including balance sheets and financial statements, that are not generally available to the public through regulatory disclosure or otherwise, or (c) research-related information produced or collected by the applicant in the conduct of or as a result of study or research on medical, rehabilitative, scientific, technical, technological, or scholarly issues, when such information has not been publicly released, published, copyrighted, or patented, and (ii) be harmful to the competitive position of the applicant. The exclusion provided by this subdivision shall only apply to grants administered by the Department, the Director of the Department, or pursuant to § 36-139, Article 26 (§ 2.2-2484 et seq.) of Chapter 24, or the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative as authorized by the appropriations act. In order for the information submitted by the applicant and specified in this subdivision to be excluded from the provisions of this chapter, the applicant shall make a written request to the Department: a. Invoking such exclusion upon submission of the data or other materials for which protection from disclosure is sought; b. Identifying with specificity the data, information, or other materials for which protection is sought; and c. Stating the reasons why protection is necessary. The Department shall determine whether the requested exclusion from disclosure is necessary to protect the trade secrets or confidential proprietary information of the applicant. The Department shall make a written determination of the nature and scope of the protection to be afforded by it under this subdivision. 33. Financial and proprietary records submitted with a loan application to a locality for the preservation or construction of affordable housing that is related to a competitive application to be submitted to either the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) or the Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA), when the release of such records would adversely affect the bargaining or competitive position of the applicant. Such records shall not be withheld after they have been made public by HUD or VHDA. 34. Information of a proprietary or confidential nature disclosed by a health carrier or pharmacy benefits manager pursuant to § 38.2-3407.15:6, a wholesale distributor pursuant to § 54.1-3436.1, or a manufacturer pursuant to § 54.1-3442.02. 35. Trade secrets, proprietary information, or financial information, including balance sheets and financial statements, that are not generally available to the public through regulatory disclosure or otherwise, supplied by an individual or a private or nongovernmental entity to the Fort Monroe Authority for the purpose of complying with the obligations of any lease, easement, license, permit, or other agreement, whether of a commercial or residential real estate nature, pertaining to the use or occupancy of any portion of Fort Monroe. In order for the records specified in this subdivision to be excluded from the provisions of this chapter, the individual or private or nongovernmental entity shall make a written request to the Fort Monroe Authority: a. Invoking such exclusion upon submission of the data or other materials for which protection from disclosure is sought; b. Identifying with specificity the data, information, or other materials for which protection is sought; and c. Stating the reasons why protection is necessary. 36. Information of a proprietary or confidential nature, including trade secrets, employee compensation information, balance sheets and financial statements that are not available to the public through regulatory disclosure or otherwise, and revenue and cost projections supplied by a private or nongovernmental entity to the Department of Workforce Development and Advancement (the Department) for the purpose of sponsoring, implementing, and operating (i) an apprenticeship program approved by the Department or (ii) a similar lawful workforce development or public-private partnership approved by the Department that assists the Department in fulfilling its mission and objectives and whose workforce development initiative could not advance without such exemption, as determined by the Commissioner of the Department and the Secretary of Labor. However, nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to allow the withholding of the name and contact information of a private or nongovernmental entity sponsoring, implementing, or operating the apprenticeship program, the location of the program, the occupations offered by the program, or the terms and conditions of a contract or agreement entered into by such private or nongovernmental entity. 1999, cc. 485, 518, 703, 726, 793, 849, 852, 867, 868, 881, § 2.1-342.01; 2000, cc. 66, 237, 382, 400, 430, 583, 589, 592, 594, 618, 632, 657, 720, 932, 933, 947, 1006, 1064; 2001, cc. 288, 518, 844, § 2.2-3705; 2002, cc. 87, 155, 242, 393, 478, 481, 499, 522, 571, 572, 633, 655, 715, 798, 830; 2003, cc. 274, 307, 327, 332, 358, 704, 801, 884, 891, 893, 897, 968; 2004, cc. 593, 690; 2005, cc. 258, 411; 2006, cc. 73, 76, 467, 831, 921, 936; 2006, Sp. Sess. I, c. 1; 2007, cc. 374, 693; 2008, cc. 71, 102, 266, 387, 633, 689, 736, 743; 2009, cc. 246, 311, 325, 765, 810, 869; 2010, cc. 310, 808; 2011, cc. 541, 781, 798, 871; 2012, cc. 693, 709; 2013, cc. 54, 482, 574; 2015, cc. 696, 697; 2016, cc. 620, 716, 724, 725, 775; 2017, cc. 662, 737, 778, 796, 816; 2018, cc. 470, 532, 533; 2019, cc. 358, 629; 2020, cc. 72, 79, 1164, 1169; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 298, 304, 532; 2022, cc. 554, 609; 2023, cc. 575, 576; 2025, cc. 90, 108.

Va. Code § 2.2-4328.3

§ 2.2-4328.3. Solar photovoltaic equipment and facilities.No state agency, locality, or political subdivision of the Commonwealth in any request for proposal, procurement agreement, contract, ordinance, policy, permit, or accompanying document shall prohibit or otherwise exclude from use any materials contained in or products associated with solar photovoltaic equipment and facilities that are manufactured in the United States. 2025, cc. 618, 646.

Va. Code § 23.1-109

§ 23.1-109. Public-private partnerships; wind and solar power.A. Each public institution of higher education may enter into a public-private partnership with any private entity whereby such entity is permitted to use at no cost property owned or controlled by such public institution of higher education for the generation of wind or solar power in exchange for offering educational immersion programs that provide hands-on education and training in the construction, operations, and maintenance of its wind or solar power generators. Such educational immersion programs shall be open to high school students and students at public institutions of higher education on the basis of admissions criteria established by the partner public institution of higher education. B. Any energy produced by solar or wind power generators as a result of a public-private partnership established pursuant to this section shall be (i) used to provide power for the partner public institution of higher education or (ii) introduced to applicable power grids and sold at market rates, with profits split as agreed upon by the private entity and the partner public institution of higher education. Any such profits gained by the partner public institution of higher education shall be used to further research, expand clean energy education programs, or lower student tuition rates. 2020, c. 775.

Va. Code § 30-189

§ 30-189. Powers and duties of Commission.A. The Commission shall generally study all aspects of coal as an energy resource and endeavor to stimulate, encourage, promote, and assist in the development of renewable and alternative energy resources other than petroleum. The Commission shall have no authority to adopt regulations. All agencies of the Commonwealth shall assist the Commission in its work. In addition to the aforementioned general powers, the Commission shall also perform the following functions: 1. Act in an advisory capacity to the Governor and executive branch agencies upon energy related matters; 2. Investigate and consider such questions and problems relating to the field of coal and energy utilization and alternative energy sources as may be submitted; 3. Make recommendations to the Governor and General Assembly on its own initiative; 4. Consult with applicable state agencies on all matters regarding energy conservation, including the promotion and implementation of initiatives for the public-at-large to conserve energy; 5. Endeavor to encourage research designed to further new and more extensive use of the coal as well as alternative and renewable energy resources of the Commonwealth; 6. Effectively disseminate any such proposals to groups and organizations, both state and local, so as to stimulate local governing bodies and private business initiative in the field of energy related matters; 7. Coordinate its efforts with those of the Virginia Solar Energy Center established pursuant to § 45.2-1900 and the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research established pursuant to Article 3 (§ 23.1-2623 et seq.) of Chapter 26 of Title 23.1; 8. Actively seek federal and other funds to be used to carry out its functions; 9. Seek to establish alternative fuel capability within the Commonwealth; and 10. Investigate and make recommendations regarding the development of nuclear power. The Commission shall periodically address (i) encouraging the reprocessing of spent fuel for reuse, (ii) incentives to encourage the study of nuclear engineering at public institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth, (iii) the storage of nuclear waste, (iv) the transportation of nuclear waste, (v) security needs of nuclear power plants, and (vi) on-site temporary storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel. B. The Commission shall report its findings and recommendations to the General Assembly and the Governor on an annual basis. The Chairman of the Commission shall submit to the General Assembly and the Governor an annual executive summary of the interim activity and work of the Commission no later than the first day of each regular session of the General Assembly. The executive summary shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports and shall be posted on the General Assembly's website. 1979, c. 330, §§ 9-145.1, 9-145.4; 1980, c. 214; 2001, c. 844; 2002, c. 559; 2004, c. 1000. Chapter 26. Commission on Early Childhood and Child Day Care Programs [Repealed]. §§ 30-190, 30-191. Repealed.Repealed by Acts 2001, c. 577. Chapter 27. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission.

Va. Code § 45.2-1702

§ 45.2-1702. Definitions.As used in this article: "Contracting entity" means any public body as defined in § 2.2-4301. "Energy conservation measures" means the use of methods and techniques, the application of knowledge, or the installation of devices, including an alteration or betterment of an existing facility, that reduces energy consumption or operating costs and includes: 1. Insulation of the facility structure and systems within the facility. 2. Installation of storm windows and doors, caulking or weatherstripping, multiglazed windows and doors, heat-absorbing or heat-reflective glazed and coated window and door systems, or additional glazing; reductions in glass area; or the completion of other window and door system modifications that reduce energy consumption. 3. Installation of automatic energy control systems, including related software, or required network communication wiring, computer devices, wiring, and support services, or the design and implementation of major building technology infrastructure with operational improvements. 4. Modification or replacement of heating, ventilating, or air-conditioning systems. 5. Replacement or modification of lighting fixtures to increase the energy efficiency of the lighting system. Such replacement or modification shall, at a minimum, conform to the applicable provisions of the Uniform Statewide Building Code (§ 36-97 et seq.). 6. Installation of energy recovery systems. 7. Installation of cogeneration systems that produce, in addition to electricity, steam or another form of energy, such as heat, for use primarily within a facility or complex of facilities. 8. Installation of energy conservation measures that provide long-term operating cost reductions and significantly reduce the BTUs consumed. 9. Installation of building technology infrastructure measures that provide long-term operating cost reductions and reduce related operational costs. 10. Installation of an energy system, such as solar, biomass, or wind. 11. Installation of devices that reduce water consumption or sewer charges. "Energy cost savings" means a measured reduction in fuel, energy, or operation and maintenance costs created from the implementation of one or more energy conservation measures when compared with an established baseline for previous fuel, energy, or operation and maintenance costs. When calculating "energy cost savings" attributable to the services performed or equipment installed pursuant to a performance-based efficiency contract, maintenance savings shall be included. "Energy performance-based contract" means a contract for the evaluation, recommendation, and implementation of energy conservation measures that includes, at a minimum: 1. The design and installation of equipment to implement one or more such measures and, if applicable, the operation and maintenance of such measures. 2. The amount of any actual annual savings. Such amount shall meet or exceed the total annual contract payments made by the contracting entity for such contract. 3. The financing charges to be incurred by the contracting entity for such contract. "Maintenance savings" means the operating expenses eliminated and future capital replacement expenditures avoided as a result of new equipment installed or services performed by the performance contractor. "Performance guarantee bond" means the performance bond provided by the energy performance contractor for each year of the energy program in an amount equal to, but no greater than, the guaranteed measured and verifiable annual savings set forth in the program. 2001, c. 219, § 11-34.2; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387.

Va. Code § 45.2-1703

§ 45.2-1703. Energy performance-based contract procedures; required contract provisions.A. Any contracting entity may enter into an energy performance-based contract with an energy performance contractor to significantly reduce (i) energy costs to a level established by the public body or (ii) operating costs of a facility through one or more energy conservation or operational efficiency measures. For the purposes of this article, energy conservation or operational efficiency measures shall not include roof replacement projects, except as provided in subdivision B 2. B. 1. The energy performance contractor shall be selected through competitive sealed bidding or competitive negotiation as set forth in § 2.2-4302.1 or 2.2-4302.2. The evaluation of the request for proposals shall analyze the estimates of all costs of installation, maintenance, repairs, debt service, post-installation project monitoring, and reporting. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any contracting entity may purchase energy conservation or operational efficiency measures under an energy performance-based contract entered into by another contracting entity pursuant to this article even if it did not participate in the request for proposals if the request for proposals specified that the procurement was being conducted on behalf of other contracting entities. 2. A contracting entity may procure a roof replacement as part of a larger energy conservation or operational efficiency measure, including solar, where the replacement is necessary for the installation of such measure. Such contracting entity may also procure a roof replacement pursuant to § 2.2-4302.1 when the original contract for the energy conservation or operational efficiency measure, including solar, does not include a roof replacement and the contracting entity determines that the replacement of more than 20 percent of the roof is necessary for the installation of such measure. Such roof replacements procured separately from a larger energy conservation or operational efficiency measure, including solar, shall also be publicly noticed on the Department of General Services' central electronic procurement website. All roof replacement projects procured separately pursuant to this subdivision shall be designed by a licensed architect or professional engineer. C. Before entering into a contract for energy conservation measures, the contracting entity shall require the performance contractor to provide a payment and performance bond relating to the installation of energy conservation measures in an amount the contracting entity finds reasonable and necessary to protect its interests. D. Prior to the design and installation of any energy conservation measures, the contracting entity shall obtain from the energy performance contractor a report disclosing all costs associated with such energy conservation measures and providing an estimate of the amount of the energy cost savings. After reviewing the report, the contracting entity may enter into an energy performance-based contract if it finds (i) the amount the entity would spend on the energy conservation measures recommended in the report will not exceed the amount to be saved in energy and operation costs more than 20 years from the date of installation, based on life-cycle costing calculations, if the recommendations in the report were followed and (ii) the energy performance contractor provides a written guarantee that the energy and operating cost savings will meet or exceed the costs of the system. The contract may provide for payments over a period not to exceed 20 years. E. The term of any energy performance-based contract shall expire at the end of each fiscal year but may be renewed annually for up to 20 years, subject to the contracting entity making sufficient annual appropriations based upon continued realized cost savings. Such contract shall stipulate that the agreement does not constitute a debt, liability, or obligation of the contracting entity, or a pledge of the faith and credit of the contracting entity. Such contract may also provide capital contributions for the purchase and installation of energy conservation measures that cannot be totally funded by the energy and operational savings. F. An energy performance-based contract shall include the following provisions: 1. A guarantee by the energy performance contractor that annual energy and operational cost savings will meet or exceed the amortized cost of energy conservation measures. The guaranteed energy savings contract shall include a written guarantee of the qualified provider that either the energy savings or operational cost savings, or both, will meet or exceed within 20 years the costs of the energy and operational savings measures. The qualified provider shall reimburse the contracting entity for any shortfall of guaranteed energy savings projected in the contract. 2. A requirement that the energy performance contractor to whom the contract is awarded provide a 100 percent performance guarantee bond to the contracting entity for the installation and faithful performance of the installed energy savings measures as outlined in the contract document. 3. A requirement that the energy performance contractor provide to the contracting entity an annual reconciliation of the guaranteed energy cost savings. The energy performance contractor shall be liable for any annual savings shortfall that may occur. G. The Department shall make a reasonable effort, as long as workload permits, to: 1. Provide general advice, upon request, to local governments considering pursuit of an energy performance-based contract pursuant to this article; and 2. Annually compile a list of performance-based contracts entered into by local governments of which the Department becomes aware. 2001, c. 219, § 11-34.3; 2004, c. 197; 2009, c. 399; 2013, c. 583; 2017, c. 259; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387; 2022, cc. 465, 466.

Va. Code § 45.2-1706.1

§ 45.2-1706.1. Commonwealth Clean Energy Policy.A. The Commonwealth recognizes that effectively addressing climate change and enhancing resilience will advance the health, welfare, and safety of the residents of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth further recognizes that addressing climate change requires reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the Commonwealth's economy sufficient to reach net-zero emission by 2045 in all sectors, including the electric power, transportation, industrial, agricultural, building, and infrastructure sectors. To achieve these objectives, it shall be the policy of the Commonwealth to: 1. Develop 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; 2. Enable widespread integration of distributed energy resources, including energy storage and rooftop solar, into the grid to achieve decarbonization and to enhance resilience; 3. Support the distributed generation of renewable electricity by: a. Encouraging private sector investments in distributed renewable energy; b. Increasing the security of the electricity grid by supporting distributed renewable energy projects and energy storage with the potential to supply electric energy to critical facilities during a widespread power outage; and c. Enhancing the ability of private property owners to generate their own renewable energy for their own personal use from renewable energy sources on their property; 4. Lead by example in state government by supporting the carbon-free energy resources required to fully decarbonize the electric power supply of the Commonwealth, including deploying 30 percent renewables by 2030, realizing 100 percent carbon-free electric power by 2040, and achieving net zero emissions by 2045; 5. Maximize energy efficiency programs as defined in § 56-576, to the extent determined to be in the public interest, that 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 sector; 6. Support net-zero emission targets by promoting zero-emission vehicles and infrastructure, including electrified transport, decreasing the carbon intensity of the transportation sector, encouraging alternative transportation options, and increasing the efficiency of motor vehicles operating on Virginia's roads; 7. Support electric distribution grid transformation projects as defined in § 56-576; 8. Promote building and construction practices that reduce emissions associated with built environment, including energy efficiency targets, new building standards, and transit-oriented and other sustainable development practices; and 9. Ensure that energy development projects avoid, minimize, and, if necessary, mitigate damage to the Commonwealth's natural and cultural resources. B. The Commonwealth recognizes the need to promote environmental justice and ensure that it is carried out throughout the Commonwealth, as provided in § 2.2-235, and the need to address and prevent energy inequities in historically economically disadvantaged communities, as defined in § 56-576. To achieve these objectives, it shall be the policy of the Commonwealth to: 1. Recognize the disproportionate and inequitable impacts of climate change on historically economically disadvantaged communities and prioritize solutions and investment in these communities to maximize the benefits of clean energy and minimize the burdens of climate change; 2. Ensure the fair treatment and meaningful involvement, as those terms are defined in § 2.2-234, of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, faith, disability, or income with respect to the administration of energy laws, regulations, and policies; and 3. Increase access to clean energy and the benefits from clean energy to historically economically disadvantaged communities. C. As Virginia transforms its energy economy, the Commonwealth must continue to prioritize economic competiveness and workforce development in an equitable manner. To achieve this objective, it shall be the policy of the Commonwealth to: 1. Equitably incorporate requirements for technical, policy, and economic analyses and assessments that recognize the unique attributes of different energy resources and delivery systems to identify pathways to net-zero carbon that maximize Virginia's energy reliability and resilience, economic development, and jobs; 2. Require that pathways to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions be determined on the basis of technical, policy, and economic analysis to maximize their effectiveness, optimize Virginia's economic development, support industrial employment, and create quality jobs while minimizing adverse impacts on public health, affected communities, and the environment; 3. Ensure an adequate energy supply and a Virginia-based energy production capacity, while also 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; 4. Increase wind energy development and grow the Commonwealth's role as a wind industry hub for offshore wind generation projects in state and federal waters off the United States coast; 5. Ensure the availability of reliable energy at costs that are reasonable and in quantities that will support the Commonwealth's economy; 6. Ensure reliable energy availability in the event of a disruption occurring to a portion of the Commonwealth's energy matrix and to address the needs of businesses during the transition to clean energy; 7. Minimize the Commonwealth's long-term exposure to volatility and increases in world energy prices by expanding the use of innovative clean energy technology within the Commonwealth; 8. Create training opportunities and green career pathways for local workers and workers in historically economically disadvantaged communities in onshore and offshore wind, solar energy, electrification, energy efficiency, clean transportation, and other emerging clean energy industries; 9. Support the repurposing and development of clean energy resources on previously developed project sites as defined in § 56-576; 10. Ensure that decision making is transparent and includes opportunities for full participation by the public; 11. Explore approaches to maximizing and leveraging the capacity of lands and waters in the Commonwealth to store energy; and 12. Increase the Commonwealth'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 (i) create jobs and income, (ii) produce clean-burning fuels that will help to improve air quality, and (iii) 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. D. The elements of the policy set forth in subsections A, B, and C shall be referred to collectively in this title as the Commonwealth Clean Energy Policy. E. All agencies and political subdivisions of the Commonwealth, in taking discretionary action with regard to energy issues, shall recognize the elements of the Commonwealth Clean Energy Policy and, where appropriate, shall act in a manner consistent therewith. F. The Commonwealth Clean Energy Policy is intended to provide guidance to the agencies and political subdivisions of the Commonwealth in taking discretionary action with regard to energy issues and shall not be construed to amend, repeal, or override any contrary provision of applicable law. Nothing in this section shall preclude reliable access to electricity and natural gas during the transition to renewable energy. The failure or refusal of any person to recognize the elements of the Commonwealth Clean Energy Policy, to act in a manner consistent with the Commonwealth Clean Energy Policy, or to take any other action whatsoever shall not create any right, action, or cause of action or provide standing for any person to challenge the action of the Commonwealth or any of its agencies or political subdivisions. 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 326, 327.

Va. Code § 45.2-1708

§ 45.2-1708. Role of local governments in achieving objectives of the Commonwealth Clean Energy Policy.A. In the development of any local ordinance addressing the siting of renewable energy facilities that generate electricity from wind or solar resources, such ordinance shall: 1. Be consistent with the provisions of the Commonwealth Clean Energy Policy pursuant to subsection E of § 45.2-1706.1; 2. Provide reasonable criteria to be addressed in the siting of any renewable energy facility that generates electricity from wind or solar resources. Such criteria shall provide for the protection of the locality in a manner consistent with the goals of the Commonwealth to promote the generation of energy from wind and solar resources; and 3. Include provisions establishing reasonable requirements upon the siting of any such renewable energy facility, including provisions limiting noise, requiring buffer areas and setbacks, and addressing generation facility decommissioning. B. Any measures required by an ordinance adopted pursuant to subsection A shall be consistent with the locality's existing ordinances. 2011, c. 750, § 67-103; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 327, 387.

Va. Code § 45.2-1710

§ 45.2-1710. Development of the Virginia Energy Plan.A. The Division, in consultation with the State Corporation Commission, the Department of Environmental Quality, the Clean Energy Advisory Board, the solar, wind, energy efficiency, and transportation electrification sectors, and a stakeholder group that includes representatives of consumer, environmental, manufacturing, forestry, and agricultural organizations and natural gas and electric utilities, shall prepare a comprehensive Virginia Energy Plan (the Plan) that identifies actions over a 10-year period consistent with the goal of the Commonwealth Clean Energy Policy set forth in § 45.2-1706.1 to achieve, no later than 2045, a net-zero carbon energy economy for all sectors, including the electricity, transportation, building, agricultural, and industrial sectors. The Plan shall propose actions, consistent with the objectives enumerated in § 45.2-1706.1, that will implement the Commonwealth Clean Energy Policy set forth in § 45.2-1706.1. B. In addition, the Plan shall include: 1. Projections of energy consumption in the Commonwealth, including the use of fuel sources and costs of electricity, natural gas, gasoline, coal, renewable resources, and other forms of non-greenhouse-gas-generating energy resources, such as nuclear power, used in the Commonwealth; 2. An analysis of the adequacy of electricity generation, transmission, and distribution resources in the Commonwealth for the natural gas and electric industries, and how distributed energy resources and regional generation, transmission, and distribution resources affect the Commonwealth; 3. An analysis of siting requirements for electric generation resources and natural gas and electric transmission and distribution resources, including an assessment of state and local impediments to expanded use of distributed resources and recommendations to reduce or eliminate such impediments; 4. An analysis of fuel diversity for electricity generation, recognizing the importance of flexibility in meeting future capacity needs; 5. An analysis of the efficient use of energy resources and conservation initiatives; 6. An analysis of how such Virginia-specific issues relate to regional initiatives to ensure the adequacy of fuel production, generation, transmission, and distribution assets; 7. An analysis of the siting of energy resource development, refining, and transmission facilities to identify any disproportionate adverse impact of such activities on economically disadvantaged or minority communities; 8. With regard to any regulations proposed or adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-fired electric generating units under § 111(d) of the federal Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7411(d), an analysis of (i) the costs to and benefits for energy producers and electric utility customers, (ii) the effect on energy markets and reliability, and (iii) the commercial availability of technology required to comply with such regulations; 9. An inventory of greenhouse gas emissions compiled using a method determined by the Department of Environmental Quality for the four years prior to the issuance of the Plan; 10. Data regarding the number and type of electric and hybrid electric vehicles currently registered in the Commonwealth; projections of future electric vehicle sales across all vehicle classes, taking into consideration the impact of current and potential statewide policies; and analysis of the impact that the growth of electrified transit on the Commonwealth's electric system; 11. An analysis of the Commonwealth's current electric vehicle charging infrastructure and all future infrastructure needed to support the 2045 net-zero carbon target in the transportation sector, including chargers, make-ready electrical equipment, and supporting hardware and software needed to support the electrification of all vehicle categories used on and off roads and highways, including light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles and electric bicycles, as well as that needed to electrify ground transportation at all ports and airports, with particular attention to the needs of historically economically disadvantaged communities as defined in § 56-576 and any state or local impediments to deployment; and 12. Recommendations, based on the analyses completed under subdivisions 1 through 11, for legislative, regulatory, and other public and private actions to implement the elements of the Commonwealth Clean Energy Policy. C. In preparing the Plan, the Division and other agencies involved in the planning process shall utilize state geographic information systems, to the extent deemed practicable, to assess how recommendations in the Plan may affect pristine natural areas and other significant onshore natural resources. Effective October 1, 2024, interim updates on the Plan shall also contain projections for greenhouse gas emissions that would result from implementation of the Plan's recommendations. D. In preparing the Plan, the Division and other agencies involved in the planning process shall develop a system for assigning numerical scores to any parcel of real property based on the extent to which such parcel is suitable for the siting of a wind energy facility or solar energy facility. For a wind energy facility, the scoring system shall address the wind velocity, sustained velocity, and turbulence. For either a wind energy facility or a solar energy facility, the scoring system shall address the parcel's proximity to electric power transmission lines or systems, potential impacts of such a facility to natural and historic resources and to economically disadvantaged or minority communities, and compatibility with the local land use plan. The system developed pursuant to this section shall allow the suitability of the parcel for the siting of a wind energy or solar energy facility to be compared to the suitability of other parcels so scored, and shall be based on a scale that allows the suitability of the parcel for the siting of such a facility to be measured against the hypothetical score of an ideal location for such a facility. E. Upon receipt by the Division of a recommendation from the Department of General Services, a local governing body, or the parcel's owner stating that a parcel of real property is a potentially suitable location for a wind energy facility or solar energy facility, the Division shall analyze the suitability of the parcel for the location of such a facility. In conducting its analysis, the Division shall ascribe a numerical score to the parcel using the scoring system developed pursuant to subsection D. 2006, c. 939, § 67-201; 2014, cc. 603, 756; 2020, cc. 1191, 1192; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 326, 327, 387.

Va. Code § 45.2-1720

§ 45.2-1720. (Effective until July 1, 2029) Powers and duties of the Authority.In addition to the other powers and duties established under this article, the Authority has the power and duty to: 1. Adopt, use, and alter at will an official seal; 2. Make bylaws for the management and regulation of its affairs; 3. Maintain an office at any place within the Commonwealth it designates; 4. Accept, hold, and administer moneys, grants, securities, or other property transferred, given, or bequeathed to the Authority, absolutely or in trust, from any source, public or private, for the purposes for which the Authority is established; 5. Make and execute contracts and all other instruments and agreements necessary or convenient for the exercise of its powers and functions, including executing contracts and all other instruments and agreements that the Authority deems necessary with the nonprofit collaborative; 6. Employ, in its discretion, consultants, attorneys, architects, engineers, accountants, financial experts, investment bankers, superintendents, managers, and any other employees and agents necessary and fix their compensation to be payable from funds made available to the Authority; 7. Invest its funds as permitted by applicable law; 8. Receive and accept from any federal or private agency, foundation, corporation, association, or person grants, donations of money, or real or personal property for the benefit of the Authority, and receive and accept from the Commonwealth or any other state, from any municipality, county, or other political subdivision thereof, or from any other source, aid or contributions of either money, property, or other things of value, to be held, used, and applied for the purposes for which such grants and contributions may be made; 9. Enter into agreements with any department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States or of the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions and with lenders and enter into loans with contracting parties for the purpose of conducting research and development, energy project development, and planning, regulating, and providing for the financing or leasing or assisting in the financing or leasing of any project; 10. Do any lawful act necessary or appropriate to carry out the powers granted or reasonably implied in this article; 11. Leverage the strength in energy workforce and energy technology research and development of the Commonwealth's public and private institutions of higher education; 12. Support energy development projects generally, including pump storage hydropower, energy storage, hydrogen production and uses, carbon capture and storage, geothermal energy, and advanced wind and solar energy; 13. Promote energy development projects on closed power plant sites, brownfield sites, former coal mine sites, reclaimed coal mine sites, abandoned mine lands, and lands adjacent thereto; 14. Promote energy workforce development and energy supply chain development; 15. Assist energy technology research and development by, among other actions, promoting the development of a Southwest Virginia Energy Park; 16. Identify and work with the Commonwealth's industries and nonprofit partners and, through mutually agreed collaborations, the Commonwealth's research and development partners, in advancing efforts related to energy development in Southwest Virginia; and 17. Promote the capture and beneficial use of coal mine methane from active, inactive, and abandoned coal mines as a low-carbon intensity feedstock for manufacturing and energy generation projects located in Southwest Virginia. 2019, cc. 555, 556, § 67-1603; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387; 2023, cc. 720, 721.

Va. Code § 45.2-1813

§ 45.2-1813. Federal loan guarantees.A. The Authority, on behalf of the Commonwealth, may apply to the U.S. Department of Energy for federal loan guarantees authorized or made available pursuant to Title XVII of the federal Energy Policy Act of 2005, P.L. 109-58; the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, P.L. 111-5; or other similar federal legislation to facilitate the development of offshore wind energy projects. B. Upon obtaining a federal loan guarantee for an offshore wind energy project pursuant to subsection A, the Authority, subject to any restrictions imposed by federal law, may allocate or assign all or any portion thereof to a qualified third party on terms and conditions the Authority finds appropriate. Any action of the Authority relating to the allocation and assignment of such loan guarantee shall be exempt from the provisions of the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.) pursuant to subdivision B 4 of § 2.2-4002. Any decision of the Authority pursuant to this section shall be final and not subject to review or appeal. 2010, cc. 507, 681, § 67-1205; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387. Chapter 19. Solar Energy. Article 1. Virginia Solar Energy Center.

Va. Code § 45.2-1900

§ 45.2-1900. Virginia Solar Energy Center; purposes.A. The Virginia Solar Energy Center (the Center) is established as part of the Department. The purposes of the Center are to (i) serve the people of the Commonwealth as a clearinghouse to gather, maintain, and disseminate general and technical information on solar energy and its utilization; (ii) coordinate programs for solar energy data-gathering in the Commonwealth; (iii) coordinate efforts and programs on solar energy with other state agencies and institutions, other states, and federal agencies; (iv) promote cooperation among and between Virginia business, industry, and agriculture and the public related to the use of solar energy; (v) develop public education programs on solar energy for use in schools and by the public; and (vi) provide assistance in formulating policies on the utilization of solar energy that would be in the best interest of the Commonwealth. B. The Center may receive nonstate funds for the purposes provided in this section. 1984, c. 590, § 45.1-391; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387. Article 2. Virginia Solar Energy Development and Energy Storage Authority. §§ 45.2-1901 through 45.2-1911. Expired.Expired effective July 1, 2025, pursuant to 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387. Article 3. Clean Energy Advisory Board.

Va. Code § 45.2-1912

§ 45.2-1912. Definitions.As used in this article, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Board" means the Clean Energy Advisory Board created pursuant to § 45.2-1913. "Fund" means the Low-to-Moderate Income Solar Loan and Rebate Fund created pursuant to § 45.2-1916. "Program" means the Low-to-Moderate Income Solar Loan and Rebate Pilot Program created pursuant to § 45.2-1917. 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387.

Va. Code § 45.2-1913

§ 45.2-1913. Clean Energy Advisory Board; purpose.The Clean Energy Advisory Board is established as an advisory board in the executive branch of state government. The purpose of the Board is to establish a pilot program for disbursing loans or rebates for the installation of solar energy infrastructure in low-income and moderate-income households. 2019, c. 554, § 45.1-395; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387.

Va. Code § 45.2-1914

§ 45.2-1914. Membership; terms; quorum; meetings.A. The Board shall have a total membership of 17 members that shall consist of 16 nonlegislative citizen members and one ex officio member. Members may reside within or without the Commonwealth. Nonlegislative citizen members shall be appointed as follows: 1. Six nonlegislative citizen members to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Delegates upon consideration of the recommendations of the Board of Directors of the Maryland-DC-Delaware-Virginia Solar Energy Industries Association (the MDV-SEIA Board) and the Governor's Advisory Council on Environmental Justice (the Council), one of whom shall be a designee of the Virginia Housing Development Authority, created pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 1.2 (§ 36-55.24 et seq.) of Title 36; one of whom shall be a rooftop solar energy professional or employer or representative of rooftop solar energy professionals; one of whom shall be a current or former member of the Council; one of whom shall be a member or representative of the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives (VMDAEC); one of whom shall be an expert with experience developing low-income or moderate-income incentive and loan programs for distributed renewable energy resources; and one of whom shall be an attorney who is licensed to practice in the Commonwealth and maintains a legal practice dedicated to rural development, rural electrification, and energy policy; 2. Three nonlegislative citizen members to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules upon consideration of the recommendations of the MDV-SEIA Board, one of whom shall be a solar energy professional or employer or representative of solar energy professionals, one of whom shall work for or with an investor-owned electric utility company based in the Commonwealth, and one of whom shall be a member or representative of VMDAEC; and 3. Seven nonlegislative citizen members to be appointed by the Governor upon consideration of the recommendations of the MDV-SEIA Board and the Council and subject to confirmation by the General Assembly, one of whom shall be an attorney who is licensed to practice in the Commonwealth and maintains a legal practice in renewable energy law and transactions, one of whom shall be an attorney who is licensed to practice in the Commonwealth and specializes in tax law and energy transactions, one of whom shall be an attorney with the Division of Consumer Counsel created pursuant to the provisions of § 2.2-517, one of whom shall be an employee of a community development financial institution who specializes in impact investing, one of whom shall be a member of a Virginia environmental organization, and two of whom shall be designees of the Department of Housing and Community Development, created pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 8 (§ 36-131 et seq.) of Title 36. B. The Director or his designee shall serve ex officio with voting privileges and shall assist in convening the meetings of the Board. C. Nonlegislative citizen members of the Board shall be citizens of the Commonwealth. The ex officio member of the Board shall serve a term coincident with his term of office. Nonlegislative citizen members shall be appointed for a term of three years. Appointments to fill vacancies, other than by expiration of a term, shall be for the unexpired terms. Vacancies shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments. All members may be reappointed. D. The Board shall elect a chairman and vice-chairman from among its membership. A majority of the members shall constitute a quorum. The meetings of the Board shall be held at the call of the chairman or whenever the majority of the members so request. 2019, c. 554, § 45.1-396; 2020, c. 803; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387.

Va. Code § 45.2-1916

§ 45.2-1916. Low-to-Moderate Income Solar Loan and Rebate Fund.There is hereby established in the state treasury a special nonreverting fund to be known as the Low-to-Moderate Income Solar Loan and Rebate Fund. The Fund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller. All funds appropriated for such purpose and any gifts, donations, grants, bequests, and other funds received on its behalf shall be paid into the state treasury and credited to the Fund. Interest earned on moneys in the Fund shall remain in the Fund and be credited to it. Any moneys remaining in the Fund, including interest thereon, at the end of each fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund but shall remain in the Fund. Moneys in the Fund shall be used solely for the purposes of extending loans or paying rebates to electric customers who complete solar installations or energy efficiency improvements pursuant to the provisions of § 45.2-1917. Expenditures and disbursements from the Fund shall be made by the State Treasurer on warrants issued by the Comptroller upon written request signed by the Director. 2019, c. 554, § 45.1-398; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387.

Va. Code § 45.2-1917

§ 45.2-1917. Low-to-Moderate Income Solar Loan and Rebate Pilot Program.A. The Board, with the approval of the Director, shall develop and establish a Low-to-Moderate Income Solar Loan and Rebate Pilot Program and rules for the loan or rebate application process. The Program shall be open to any Virginia resident whose household income is at or below 80 percent of the state median income or regional median income, whichever is greater. The Program shall allow only one loan per residence, irrespective of the ownership of the solar energy system that is installed. Such loan shall be available only for a solar installation or energy efficiency improvements pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 1.2 (§ 36-55.24 et seq.) of Title 36. B. The Board shall accept an application only from the installer of the solar installation or the agent of the customer. Each application shall include (i) 12 months of the customer's utility bills prior to installation of the solar energy system and an agreement to provide 12 months of utility bills to the Board following the installation; (ii) the customer's permission for the Director to (a) create a customer profile for the customer if he becomes an eligible loan or rebate customer, (b) aggregate the data provided by such eligible loan or rebate customers, and (c) use such aggregate data for the purpose of lowering energy costs and implementing effective programs; (iii) evidence of the completion of a home performance audit, conducted by a qualified local weatherization service provider, before and after installation of energy efficiency services such as lighting or insulation improvements, attic tents, weatherization, air sealing of openings in the building envelope, sealing of ducts, or thermostat upgrades, to demonstrate that such energy efficiency services were completed and resulted in a reduction in consumption of at least 12 percent; and (iv) an affidavit attesting to the receipt of a public benefit at the time the solar energy system is to be installed. C. The Board shall review each application submitted to it on a first-come, first-served basis and shall recommend to the Director the approval or denial of each such application within 30 days of receipt. If the Director approves an application, he shall hold a reservation of funds for as long as 180 days for final loan or rebate claim and disbursement. D. A customer whose application is approved may install an energy system that is interconnected pursuant to the provisions of § 56-594 or any section in Title 56 that addresses net energy metering provisions for electric cooperative service territories. E. All of the work of installing the energy system shall be completed by a licensed contractor that (i) possesses an Alternative Energy System (AES) Contracting specialty as defined by the Board for Contractors pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 11 (§ 54.1-1100 et seq.) of Title 54.1; (ii) possesses certification for solar installation from the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners, Solar Energy International, Roof Integrated Solar Energy, or a similar installer certification program; (iii) possesses a rating of "A" or higher from the local Better Business Bureau; and (iv) has installed a minimum of 150 net-metered residential solar systems in the Commonwealth. If the work of installing the solar energy system requires electrical work, such work shall be completed by an electrical contractor licensed by the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. All photovoltaic panels, inverters, and other electrical apparatus used in the solar energy system shall be tested and certified by a federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory such as UL LLC and installed in compliance with manufacturer specifications and all applicable building and electrical codes. F. The customer or the installer, acting on behalf of the customer, shall submit any loan or rebate claim within 90 days of completion of the installation of the solar energy system, with completion deemed to have occurred once the solar energy system's bi-directional meter or net meter, or the respective utility's revenue grade meter, has been installed and the system has been electrified. Each rebate claim shall include, at a minimum, a date of system electrification and a time-stamped and date-stamped verification of (i) bi-directional net meter delivery or (ii) the operation of a compatible programmed smart meter capable of tracking net metering activity. G. The Director shall review and approve or deny a loan or rebate claim within 60 days of receipt and shall provide a written explanation of each denial to the respective claimant. The Director shall disburse from the Fund created pursuant to § 45.2-1916 the loan or rebate for each approved claim within 60 days of its receipt of the claim and according to the order in which its respective application was approved. Any rebate or grant shall be in the amount of no more than $2 per DC watt for up to six kilowatts of solar capacity installed. The customer may use a rebate in addition to any federal tax credits or state incentives or enhancements earned for the same solar installation. 2019, c. 554, § 45.1-399; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387. Chapter 20. Geothermal Energy. Article 1. General Provisions.

Va. Code § 55.1-136

§ 55.1-136. Tenants by the entirety in real and personal property; certain trusts.A. Spouses may own real or personal property as tenants by the entirety for as long as they are married. Personal property may be owned as tenants by the entirety whether or not the personal property represents the proceeds of the sale of real property. An intent that the part of the one dying should belong to the other shall be manifest from a designation of the spouses as "tenants by the entireties" or "tenants by the entirety." B. Except as otherwise provided by statute, no interest in real property held as tenants by the entirety shall be severed by written instrument unless the instrument is a deed signed by both spouses as grantors. C. Notwithstanding any contrary provision of § 64.2-747, any property of spouses that is held by them as tenants by the entirety and conveyed to their joint revocable or irrevocable trusts, or to their separate revocable or irrevocable trusts, and any proceeds of the sale or disposition of such property, shall have the same immunity from the claims of their separate creditors as it would if it had remained a tenancy by the entirety, so long as (i) they remain married to each other, (ii) it continues to be held in the trust or trusts, and (iii) it continues to be their property, including where both spouses are current beneficiaries of one trust that holds the entire property or each spouse is a current beneficiary of a separate trust and the two separate trusts together hold the entire property, whether or not other persons are also current or future beneficiaries of the trust or trusts. The immunity from the claims of separate creditors under this subsection may be waived as to any specific creditor, including any separate creditor of either spouse, or any specifically described property, including any former tenancy by the entirety property conveyed into trust, by the trustee acting under the express provision of a trust instrument or with the written consent of both spouses. 2001, c. 718, § 55-20.2; 2006, c. 281; 2015, c. 424; 2017, c. 38; 2019, c. 712. Article 4. Virginia Solar Easements Act.

Va. Code § 55.1-137

§ 55.1-137. Creation of solar easements.Any easement obtained for the purpose of exposure of solar energy equipment, facilities, or devices shall be created in writing and shall be subject to the same conveyancing and instrument recording requirements as other easements. 1978, c. 323, § 55-353; 2019, c. 712.

Va. Code § 55.1-138

§ 55.1-138. Contents of solar easement agreements.Any instrument creating a solar easement shall include, at a minimum: 1. The vertical and horizontal angles, expressed in degrees, at which the solar easement extends over the real property subject to the solar easement; 2. Any terms or conditions under which the solar easement is granted or will be terminated; and 3. Any provisions for compensation of the owner of the property subject to the solar easement. 1978, c. 323, § 55-354; 2019, c. 712. Chapter 2. Property Rights of Married Persons.

Va. Code § 55.1-1820.1

§ 55.1-1820.1. Installation of solar energy collection devices.A. As used in this section, "solar energy collection device" means any device manufactured and sold for the sole purpose of facilitating the collection and beneficial use of solar energy, including passive heating panels or building components and solar photovoltaic apparatus. B. No association shall prohibit an owner from installing a solar energy collection device on that owner's property unless the recorded declaration for the association establishes such a prohibition. However, an association may establish reasonable restrictions concerning the size, place, and manner of placement of such solar energy collection devices on property designated and intended for individual ownership and use. Any resale certificate issued pursuant to § 55.1-2309 given to a purchaser shall contain a statement setting forth any restriction, limitation, or prohibition on the right of an owner to install or use solar energy collection devices on his property. C. A restriction shall be deemed not to be reasonable if application of the restriction to a particular proposal (i) increases the cost of installation of the solar energy collection device by five percent over the projected cost of the initially proposed installation or (ii) reduces the energy production by the solar energy collection device by 10 percent below the projected energy production of the initially proposed installation. The owner shall provide documentation prepared by an independent solar panel design specialist, who is certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners and is licensed in Virginia, that is satisfactory to the association to show that the restriction is not reasonable according to the criteria established in this subsection. D. The association may prohibit or restrict the installation of solar energy collection devices on the common elements or common area within the real estate development served by the association. An association may establish reasonable restrictions as to the number, size, place, and manner of placement or installation of any solar energy collection device installed on the common elements or common area. 2006, c. 939, §§ 67-700, 67-701; 2008, c. 881; 2009, c. 866; 2013, c. 357; 2014, c. 525; 2020, cc. 272, 795; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387; 2023, cc. 387, 388.

Va. Code § 55.1-1951.1

§ 55.1-1951.1. Installation of solar energy collection devices.A. As used in this section, "solar energy collection device" means any device manufactured and sold for the sole purpose of facilitating the collection and beneficial use of solar energy, including passive heating panels or building components and solar photovoltaic apparatus. B. No unit owners' association shall prohibit an owner from installing a solar energy collection device on that owner's property unless the recorded declaration for the unit owners' association establishes such a prohibition. However, a unit owners' association may establish reasonable restrictions concerning the size, place, and manner of placement of such solar energy collection devices on property designated and intended for individual ownership and use. Any resale certificate pursuant to § 55.1-2309 given to a purchaser shall contain a statement setting forth any restriction, limitation, or prohibition on the right of an owner to install or use solar energy collection devices on his property. C. A restriction shall be deemed not to be reasonable if application of the restriction to a particular proposal (i) increases the cost of installation of the solar energy collection device by five percent over the projected cost of the initially proposed installation or (ii) reduces the energy production by the solar energy collection device by 10 percent below the projected energy production of the initially proposed installation. The owner shall provide documentation prepared by an independent solar panel design specialist, who is certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners and is licensed in Virginia, that is satisfactory to the unit owners' association to show that the restriction is not reasonable according to the criteria established in this subsection. D. The unit owners' association may prohibit or restrict the installation of solar energy collection devices on the common elements or common area within the real estate development served by the unit owners' association. A unit owners' association may establish reasonable restrictions as to the number, size, place, and manner of placement or installation of any solar energy collection device installed on the common elements or common area. 2006, c. 939, §§ 67-700, 67-701; 2008, c. 881; 2009, c. 866; 2013, c. 357; 2014, c. 525; 2020, cc. 272, 795; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387; 2023, cc. 387, 388.

Va. Code § 55.1-2133.1

§ 55.1-2133.1. Installation of solar energy collection devices.A. As used in this section, "solar energy collection device" means any device manufactured and sold for the sole purpose of facilitating the collection and beneficial use of solar energy, including passive heating panels or building components and solar photovoltaic apparatus. B. No association shall prohibit an owner from installing a solar energy collection device on that owner's property unless the recorded declaration for the association establishes such a prohibition. However, an association may establish reasonable restrictions concerning the size, place, and manner of placement of such solar energy collection devices on property designated and intended for individual ownership and use. Any resale certificate pursuant to § 55.1-2309 given to a purchaser shall contain a statement setting forth any restriction, limitation, or prohibition on the right of an owner to install or use solar energy collection devices on his property. C. A restriction shall be deemed not to be reasonable if application of the restriction to a particular proposal (i) increases the cost of installation of the solar energy collection device by five percent over the projected cost of the initially proposed installation or (ii) reduces the energy production by the solar energy collection device by 10 percent below the projected energy production of the initially proposed installation. The owner shall provide documentation prepared by an independent solar panel design specialist, who is certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners and is licensed in Virginia, that is satisfactory to the association to show that the restriction is not reasonable according to the criteria established in this subsection. D. The association may prohibit or restrict the installation of solar energy collection devices on the common elements or common area within the real estate development served by the association. An association may establish reasonable restrictions as to the number, size, place, and manner of placement or installation of any solar energy collection device installed on the common elements or common area. 2006, c. 939, §§ 67-700, 67-701; 2008, c. 881; 2009, c. 866; 2013, c. 357; 2014, c. 525; 2020, cc. 272, 795; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387; 2023, cc. 387, 388.

Va. Code § 55.1-2310

§ 55.1-2310. Resale certificate; form and contents.A. The association shall include the completed resale certificate form, developed by the Common Interest Community Board pursuant to subdivision 3 of § 54.1-2350, with supporting documentation set out in the following order: 1. The name, address, and phone numbers of the preparer of the resale certificate and any managing agent of the association; 2. A copy of the governing documents and any rules and regulations of the association; 3. A statement disclosing any restraint on the alienability of the unit for which the resale certificate is being issued; 4. A statement of the amount and payment schedules of assessments and any unpaid assessments currently due and payable to the association; 5. A statement of any other fees due and payable by an owner of the unit; 6. A statement of any other entity or facility to which the owner of the unit being sold may be liable for assessments, fees, or other charges due to the ownership of the unit; 7. A statement of the amount and payment schedule of any approved additional or special assessment and any unpaid additional or special assessment currently due and payable; 8. A statement of any capital expenditures approved by the association for the current and succeeding fiscal years; 9. A statement of the amount of any reserves for capital expenditures and of any portions of those reserves designated by the association for any specified projects; 10. The most recent balance sheet and income and expense statement, if any, of the association; 11. The current operating budget of the association; 12. The current reserve study or a summary of such study; 13. A statement of any unsatisfied judgments against the association and the nature and status of any pending actions in which the association is a party and that could have a material impact on the association, the owners, or the unit being sold; 14. A statement (i) describing any insurance coverage provided by the association for the benefit of the owners, including fidelity coverage, and any insurance coverage recommended or required to be obtained by the owners and (ii) indicating that the governing documents may make an owner responsible for payment of all or part of the deductible when making a claim against such insurance; 15. A statement as to whether the board has given or received written notice that any existing uses, occupancies, alterations, or improvements in or to the unit being sold or to the limited elements assigned thereto violate any provision of the governing documents or rules and regulations together with copies of any notices provided; 16. A statement as to whether the board has received written notice from a governmental agency of any violation of environmental, health, or building codes with respect to the unit being sold, the limited elements assigned thereto, or any other portion of the common interest community that has not been cured; 17. A copy of any approved minutes of meetings of the board held during the last six months; 18. A copy of any approved or draft minutes of the most recent association meeting; 19. A statement of the remaining term of any leasehold estate affecting a common area or common element, as those terms are defined in §§ 55.1-1800, 55.1-1900, and 55.1-2100, in the common interest community and the provisions governing any extension or renewal of such leasehold; 20. A statement of any limitation in the governing documents on the number or age of persons who may occupy a unit as a dwelling; 21. A statement setting forth any restriction, limitation, or prohibition on the right of an owner to display the flag of the United States, including reasonable restrictions as to the size, time, place, and manner of placement or display of such flag; 22. A statement setting forth any restriction, limitation, or prohibition on the right of an owner to install or use solar energy collection devices on the owner's unit or limited element; 23. A statement setting forth any restriction, limitation, or prohibition on the size, placement, or duration of display of political, for sale, or any other signs on the property; 24. A statement identifying any parking or vehicle restriction, limitation, or prohibition in the governing documents or rules and regulations; 25. A statement setting forth any restriction, limitation, or prohibition on the operation of a home-based business that otherwise complies with all applicable local ordinances; 26. A statement setting forth any restriction, limitation, or prohibition on an owner's ability to rent the unit; 27. In a cooperative, a statement setting forth whether the cooperative association is aware of any statute, regulation, or rule applicable to the cooperative that would affect an owner's ability to deduct real estate taxes and interest paid by the cooperative association for federal income tax purposes; 28. A statement describing any pending sale or encumbrance of common elements; 29. A statement indicating any known project approvals currently in effect issued by secondary mortgage market agencies; and 30. Certification that the association has filed with the Common Interest Community Board the annual report required by law, which certification shall indicate the filing number assigned by the Common Interest Community Board and the expiration date of such filing. B. No association shall require the purchaser's name to be set out on the completed resale certificate prepared pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. 2023, cc. 387, 388; 2024, cc. 54, 511; 2025, cc. 14, 16, 247.

Va. Code § 55.1-703

§ 55.1-703. Required disclosures for buyer to beware; buyer to exercise necessary due diligence.A. The owner of the residential real property shall furnish to a purchaser a residential property disclosure statement for the buyer to beware of certain matters that may affect the buyer's decision to purchase such real property. Such statement shall be provided by the Real Estate Board on its website. B. The residential property disclosure statement provided by the Real Estate Board on its website shall include the following: 1. The owner makes no representations or warranties as to the condition of the real property or any improvements thereon, or with regard to any covenants and restrictions, or any conveyances of mineral rights, as may be recorded among the land records affecting the real property or any improvements thereon, and purchasers are advised to exercise whatever due diligence a particular purchaser deems necessary, including obtaining a home inspection, as defined in § 54.1-500, a mold assessment conducted by a business that follows the guidelines provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and a residential building energy analysis, as defined in § 54.1-1144, in accordance with terms and conditions as may be contained in the real estate purchase contract, but in any event prior to settlement pursuant to such contract; 2. The owner makes no representation with respect to current lot lines or the ability to expand, improve, or add any structures on the property, and purchasers are advised to exercise whatever due diligence a particular purchaser deems necessary, including obtaining a property survey and contacting the locality to determine zoning ordinances or lot coverage, height, or setback requirements on the property. 3. The owner makes no representations with respect to any matters that may pertain to parcels adjacent to the subject parcel, including zoning classification or permitted uses of adjacent parcels, and purchasers are advised to exercise whatever due diligence a particular purchaser deems necessary with respect to adjacent parcels in accordance with terms and conditions as may be contained in the real estate purchase contract, but in any event prior to settlement pursuant to such contract; 4. The owner makes no representations to any matters that pertain to whether the provisions of any historic district ordinance affect the property, and purchasers are advised to exercise whatever due diligence a particular purchaser deems necessary with respect to any historic district designated by the locality pursuant to § 15.2-2306, including review of (i) any local ordinance creating such district, (ii) any official map adopted by the locality depicting historic districts, and (iii) any materials available from the locality that explain (a) any requirements to alter, reconstruct, renovate, restore, or demolish buildings or signs in the local historic district and (b) the necessity of any local review board or governing body approvals prior to doing any work on a property located in a local historic district, in accordance with terms and conditions as may be contained in the real estate purchase contract, but in any event prior to settlement pursuant to such contract; 5. The owner makes no representations with respect to whether the property contains any resource protection areas established in an ordinance implementing the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (§ 62.1-44.15:67 et seq.) adopted by the locality where the property is located pursuant to § 62.1-44.15:74, and purchasers are advised to exercise whatever due diligence a particular purchaser deems necessary to determine whether the provisions of any such ordinance affect the property, including review of any official map adopted by the locality depicting resource protection areas, in accordance with terms and conditions as may be contained in the real estate purchase contract, but in any event prior to settlement pursuant to such contract; 6. The owner makes no representations with respect to information on any sexual offenders registered under Chapter 23 (§ 19.2-387 et seq.) of Title 19.2, and purchasers are advised to exercise whatever due diligence they deem necessary with respect to such information, in accordance with terms and conditions as may be contained in the real estate purchase contract, but in any event prior to settlement pursuant to such contract; 7. The owner makes no representations with respect to whether the property is within a dam break inundation zone. Such disclosure statement shall advise purchasers to exercise whatever due diligence they deem necessary with respect to whether the property resides within a dam break inundation zone, including a review of any map adopted by the locality depicting dam break inundation zones; 8. The owner makes no representations with respect to the presence of any wastewater system, including the type or size of the wastewater system or associated maintenance responsibilities related to the wastewater system, located on the property, and purchasers are advised to exercise whatever due diligence they deem necessary to determine the presence of any wastewater system on the property and the costs associated with maintaining, repairing, or inspecting any wastewater system, including any costs or requirements related to the pump-out of septic tanks, in accordance with terms and conditions as may be contained in the real estate purchase contract, but in any event prior to settlement pursuant to such contract; 9. The owner makes no representations with respect to any right to install or use solar energy collection devices on the property; 10. The owner makes no representations with respect to whether the property is located in one or more special flood hazard areas, and purchasers are advised to exercise whatever due diligence they deem necessary, including (i) obtaining a flood certification or mortgage lender determination of whether the property is located in one or more special flood hazard areas, (ii) reviewing any map depicting special flood hazard areas, (iii) contacting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or visiting the website for FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program or the Virginia Flood Risk Information website operated by the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and (iv) determining whether flood insurance is required, in accordance with terms and conditions as may be contained in the real estate purchase contract, but in any event prior to settlement pursuant to such contract. A flood risk information form, pursuant to the provisions of subsection D, that provides additional information on flood risk and flood insurance is available for download by the Real Estate Board on its website; 11. The owner makes no representations with respect to whether the property is subject to one or more conservation or other easements, and purchasers are advised to exercise whatever due diligence a particular purchaser deems necessary in accordance with terms and conditions as may be contained in the real estate purchase contract, but in any event prior to settlement pursuant to such contract; 12. The owner makes no representations with respect to whether the property is subject to a community development authority approved by a local governing body pursuant to Article 6 (§ 15.2-5152 et seq.) of Chapter 51 of Title 15.2, and purchasers are advised to exercise whatever due diligence a particular purchaser deems necessary in accordance with terms and conditions as may be contained in the real estate purchase contract, including determining whether a copy of the resolution or ordinance has been recorded in the land records of the circuit court for the locality in which the community development authority district is located for each tax parcel included in the district pursuant to § 15.2-5157, but in any event prior to settlement pursuant to such contract; 13. The owner makes no representations with respect to whether the property is located on or near deposits of marine clays (marumsco soils), and purchasers are advised to exercise whatever due diligence a particular purchaser deems necessary in accordance with terms and conditions as may be contained in the real estate purchase contract, including consulting public resources regarding local soil conditions and having the soil and structural conditions of the property analyzed by a qualified professional; 14. The owner makes no representations with respect to whether the property is located in a locality classified as Zone 1 or Zone 2 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Map of Radon Zones, and purchasers are advised to exercise whatever due diligence they deem necessary to determine whether the property is located in such a zone, including (i) reviewing the EPA's Map of Radon Zones or visiting the EPA's radon information website; (ii) visiting the Virginia Department of Health's Indoor Radon Program website; (iii) visiting the National Radon Proficiency Program's website; (iv) visiting the National Radon Safety Board's website that lists the Board's certified contractors; and (v) ordering a radon inspection, in accordance with the terms and conditions as may be contained in the real estate purchase contract, but in any event prior to settlement pursuant to such contract; 15. The owner makes no representations with respect to whether the property contains any pipe, pipe or plumbing fitting, fixture, solder, or flux that does not meet the federal Safe Drinking Water Act definition of "lead free" pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 300g-6, and purchasers are advised to exercise whatever due diligence they deem necessary to determine whether the property contains any pipe, pipe or plumbing fitting, fixture, solder, or flux that does not meet the federal Safe Drinking Water Act definition of "lead free," in accordance with terms and conditions as may be contained in the real estate purchase contract, but in any event prior to settlement pursuant to such contract; 16. The owner makes no representations with respect to the existence of defective drywall on the property, and purchasers are advised to exercise whatever due diligence they deem necessary to determine whether there is defective drywall on the property, in accordance with terms and conditions as may be contained in the real estate purchase contract, but in any event prior to settlement pursuant to such contract. For purposes of this subdivision, "defective drywall" means the same as that term is defined in § 36-156.1; 17. The owner makes no representation with respect to the condition or regulatory status of any impounding structure or dam on the property or under the ownership of the common interest community that the owner of the property is required to join, and purchasers are advised to exercise whatever due diligence a particular purchaser deems necessary to determine the condition, regulatory status, cost of required maintenance and operation, or other relevant information pertaining to the impounding structure or dam, including contacting the Department of Conservation and Recreation or a licensed professional engineer; and 18. The owner makes no representations or warranties with respect to the property's proximity to a public use airport nor any noise from aircraft due to the proximity of the property to flight operations. The Federal Aviation Administration is responsible for managing the national airspace system, including aircraft flight paths. Purchasers are advised to exercise whatever due diligence a particular purchaser deems necessary to determine whether a property is within proximity to a flight path or public use airport aircraft noise zone, including contacting (i) the locality or public use airport and reviewing any available maps depicting public use airport aircraft noise zones or (ii) the Department of Aviation or visiting the Department of Aviation's website, where any such maps, if made available by localities or public use airports, shall be accessible to the public. C. The residential property disclosure statement shall be delivered in accordance with § 55.1-709. D. The Real Estate Board shall make available on its website a flood risk information form. Such form shall be substantially as follows: Flood Risk Information Form The purpose of this information form is to provide property owners and potential property owners with information regarding flood risk. This information form does not determine whether a property owner will be required to purchase a flood insurance policy. That determination is made by the lender providing a loan for the property at the lender's discretion. Mortgage lenders are mandated under the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 and the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994 to require the purchase of flood insurance by property owners who acquire loans from federally regulated, supervised, or insured financial institutions for the acquisition or improvement of land, facilities, or structures located within or to be located within a Special Flood Hazard Area. A Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) is a high-risk area defined as any land that would be inundated by a flood, also known as a base flood, having a one percent chance of occurring in a given year. The lender reviews the current National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) maps for the community in which the property is located to determine its location relative to the published SFHA and completes the Standard Flood Hazard Determination Form (SFHDF), created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). If the lender determines that the structure is indeed located within a SFHA and the community is participating in the NFIP, the borrower is then notified that flood insurance will be required as a condition of receiving the loan. A similar review and notification are completed whenever a loan is sold on the secondary loan market or when the lender completes a routine review of its mortgage portfolio. Properties that are not located in a SFHA can still flood. Flood damage is not generally covered by a standard home insurance policy. It is prudent to consider purchasing flood insurance even when flood insurance is not required by a lender. Properties not located in a SFHA may be eligible for a low-cost preferred risk flood insurance policy. Property owners and buyers are encouraged to consult with their insurance agent about flood insurance. What is a flood? A flood is a general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of two or more acres of normally dry land area or of two or more properties, at least one of which is the policyholder's property, from (i) overflow of inland or tidal waters, (ii) unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source, (iii) mudflow, or (iv) collapse or subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or similar body of water as a result of erosion or undermining caused by waves or currents of water exceeding anticipated cyclical levels that result in a flood. FEMA is required to update Flood Maps every five years. Flood zones for this property may change due to periodic map updates. To determine what flood zone or zones a property is located in a buyer can visit the website for FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program or the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation's Flood Risk Information System website. 1992, c. 717, § 55-519; 1996, c. 379; 1998, cc. 384, 795; 2005, c. 510; 2006, cc. 247, 514, 533, 705, 767; 2007, cc. 265, 784; 2008, c. 491; 2009, c. 641; 2010, c. 518; 2011, c. 461; 2013, c. 357; 2015, cc. 79, 269; 2016, cc. 161, 323, 436, 505; 2017, cc. 386, 569; 2018, cc. 60, 86; 2019, cc. 390, 504, 712; 2020, cc. 23, 24, 26, 186, 200, 313, 520, 655, 656; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 10, 322, 323; 2022, c. 268; 2025, cc. 15, 25.

Va. Code § 56-576

§ 56-576. Definitions.As used in this chapter: "Affiliate" means any person that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with an electric utility. "Aggregator" means a person that, as an agent or intermediary, (i) offers to purchase, or purchases, electric energy or (ii) offers to arrange for, or arranges for, the purchase of electric energy, for sale to, or on behalf of, two or more retail customers not controlled by or under common control with such person. The following activities shall not, in and of themselves, make a person an aggregator under this chapter: (i) furnishing legal services to two or more retail customers, suppliers or aggregators; (ii) furnishing educational, informational, or analytical services to two or more retail customers, unless direct or indirect compensation for such services is paid by an aggregator or supplier of electric energy; (iii) furnishing educational, informational, or analytical services to two or more suppliers or aggregators; (iv) providing default service under § 56-585; (v) engaging in activities of a retail electric energy supplier, licensed pursuant to § 56-587, which are authorized by such supplier's license; and (vi) engaging in actions of a retail customer, in common with one or more other such retail customers, to issue a request for proposal or to negotiate a purchase of electric energy for consumption by such retail customers. "Business park" means a land development containing a minimum of 100 contiguous acres classified as a Tier 4 site under the Virginia Economic Development Partnership's Business Ready Sites Program that is developed and constructed by a locality, an industrial development authority, or a similar political subdivision of the Commonwealth created pursuant to § 15.2-4903 or other act of the General Assembly, in order to promote business development. "Combined heat and power" means a method of using waste heat from electrical generation to offset traditional processes, space heating, air conditioning, or refrigeration. "Commission" means the State Corporation Commission. "Community in which a majority of the population are people of color" means a U.S. Census tract where more than 50 percent of the population comprises individuals who identify as belonging to one or more of the following groups: Black, African American, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, other non-white race, mixed race, Hispanic, Latino, or linguistically isolated. "Cooperative" means a utility formed under or subject to Chapter 9.1 (§ 56-231.15 et seq.). "Covered entity" means a provider in the Commonwealth of an electric service not subject to competition but does not include default service providers. "Covered transaction" means an acquisition, merger, or consolidation of, or other transaction involving stock, securities, voting interests or assets by which one or more persons obtains control of a covered entity. "Curtailment" means inducing retail customers to reduce load during times of peak demand so as to ease the burden on the electrical grid. "Customer choice" means the opportunity for a retail customer in the Commonwealth to purchase electric energy from any supplier licensed and seeking to sell electric energy to that customer. "Demand response" means measures aimed at shifting time of use of electricity from peak-use periods to times of lower demand by inducing retail customers to curtail electricity usage during periods of congestion and higher prices in the electrical grid. "Distribute," "distributing," or "distribution of" electric energy means the transfer of electric energy through a retail distribution system to a retail customer. "Distributor" means a person owning, controlling, or operating a retail distribution system to provide electric energy directly to retail customers. "Electric distribution grid transformation project" means a project associated with electric distribution infrastructure, including related data analytics equipment, that is designed to accommodate or facilitate the integration of utility-owned or customer-owned renewable electric generation resources with the utility's electric distribution grid or to otherwise enhance electric distribution grid reliability, electric distribution grid security, customer service, or energy efficiency and conservation, including advanced metering infrastructure; intelligent grid devices for real time system and asset information; automated control systems for electric distribution circuits and substations; communications networks for service meters; intelligent grid devices and other distribution equipment; distribution system hardening projects for circuits, other than the conversion of overhead tap lines to underground service, and substations designed to reduce service outages or service restoration times; physical security measures at key distribution substations; cyber security measures; energy storage systems and microgrids that support circuit-level grid stability, power quality, reliability, or resiliency or provide temporary backup energy supply; electrical facilities and infrastructure necessary to support electric vehicle charging systems; LED street light conversions; and new customer information platforms designed to provide improved customer access, greater service options, and expanded access to energy usage information. "Electric utility" means any person that generates, transmits, or distributes electric energy for use by retail customers in the Commonwealth, including any investor-owned electric utility, cooperative electric utility, or electric utility owned or operated by a municipality. "Electrification" means measures that (i) electrify space heating, water heating, cooling, drying, cooking, industrial processes, and other building and industrial end uses that would otherwise be served by onsite, nonelectric fuels, provided that the electrification measures reduce site energy consumption; (ii) to the maximum extent practical, seek to combine with federally authorized customer rebates for heat pump technology; and (iii) for those measures that provide measurable and verifiable energy savings to low-income customers or elderly customers, to the maximum extent practical, seek to combine with either contemporaneously installed measures or previously installed measures that are or were provided under federally funded weatherization programs or state-provided, locality-provided, or utility-provided energy efficiency programs. "Energy efficiency program" means a program that reduces the total amount of energy that is required for the same process or activity implemented after the expiration of capped rates but does not include electrification of any process or activity primarily fueled by natural gas. Energy efficiency programs include equipment, physical, or program change designed to produce measured and verified reductions in the amount of site energy required to perform the same function and produce the same or a similar outcome. Energy efficiency programs may include (i) electrification; (ii) programs that result in improvements in lighting design, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, appliances, building envelopes, and industrial and commercial processes; (iii) measures, such as the installation of advanced meters, implemented or installed by utilities, that reduce fuel use or losses of electricity and otherwise improve internal operating efficiency in generation, transmission, and distribution systems; and (iv) customer engagement programs that result in measurable and verifiable energy savings that lead to efficient use patterns and practices. Energy efficiency programs include demand response, combined heat and power and waste heat recovery, curtailment, or other programs that are designed to reduce site energy consumption so long as they reduce the total amount of site energy that is required for the same process or activity. Utilities shall be authorized to install and operate such advanced metering technology and equipment on a customer's premises; however, nothing in this chapter establishes a requirement that an energy efficiency program be implemented on a customer's premises and be connected to a customer's wiring on the customer's side of the inter-connection without the customer's expressed consent. Electricity consumption increases that result from Commission-approved electrification measures shall not be considered as a reduction in energy savings under the energy savings requirements set forth in subsection B of § 56-596.2. Utilities may apply verified total site energy reductions that are attributable to Commission-approved electrification measures to the energy savings requirements set forth in subsection B of § 56-596.2, subject to a conversion of British thermal unit-based energy savings to an equivalent kilowatt-hour-based energy savings, which conversion shall be subject to Commission approval. "Generate," "generating," or "generation of" electric energy means the production of electric energy. "Generator" means a person owning, controlling, or operating a facility that produces electric energy for sale. "Geothermal electric generating resource" means an electric generating unit that is powered by geothermal energy as defined in § 45.2-2000. "Geothermal heating and cooling system" means a system that: 1. Exchanges thermal energy from groundwater or a shallow ground source to generate thermal energy through an electric geothermal heat pump or a system of electric geothermal heat pumps interconnected with any geothermal extraction facility that is (i) a closed loop or a series of closed loop systems in which fluid is permanently confined within a pipe or tubing and does not come in contact with the outside environment or (ii) an open loop system in which ground or surface water is circulated in an environmentally safe manner directly into the facility and returned to the same aquifer or surface water source; 2. Meets or exceeds the current federal Energy Star product specification standards; 3. Replaces or displaces less efficient space or water heating systems, regardless of fuel type; 4. Replaces or displaces less efficient space cooling systems that do not meet federal Energy Star product specification standards; and 5. Does not feed electricity back to the grid. "Historically economically disadvantaged community" means (i) a community in which a majority of the population are people of color or (ii) a low-income geographic area. "Incremental annual savings" means the total combined kilowatt-hour savings achieved by electric utility energy efficiency and demand response programs and measures in the program year in which they are installed. "Incumbent electric utility" means each electric utility in the Commonwealth that, prior to July 1, 1999, supplied electric energy to retail customers located in an exclusive service territory established by the Commission. "Independent system operator" means a person that may receive or has received, by transfer pursuant to this chapter, any ownership or control of, or any responsibility to operate, all or part of the transmission systems in the Commonwealth. "In the public interest," for purposes of assessing energy efficiency programs prior to the 2029 program year, describes an energy efficiency program if the Commission determines that the net present value of the benefits exceeds the net present value of the costs as determined by not less than any three of the following four tests: (i) the Total Resource Cost Test; (ii) the Utility Cost Test (also referred to as the Program Administrator Test); (iii) the Participant Test; and (iv) the Ratepayer Impact Measure Test. Such determination shall include an analysis of all four tests, and a program or portfolio of programs shall be approved if the net present value of the benefits exceeds the net present value of the costs as determined by not less than any three of the four tests. For programs proposed for the 2029 program year and all subsequent years, the Commission shall establish targets pursuant to subdivision B 4 of § 56-596.2, and a program shall be approved if the Commission determines it is cost-effective pursuant to applicable Commission regulations and that the net present value of the benefits exceeds the net present value of the costs as determined by the Total Resource Cost Test. If the Commission determines that an energy efficiency program or portfolio of programs is not in the public interest, its final order shall include all work product and analysis conducted by the Commission's staff in relation to that program, including testimony relied upon by the Commission's staff, that has bearing upon the Commission's decision. If the Commission reduces the proposed budget for a program or portfolio of programs, its final order shall include an analysis of the impact such budget reduction has upon the cost-effectiveness of such program or portfolio of programs. An order by the Commission (a) finding that a program or portfolio of programs is not in the public interest or (b) reducing the proposed budget for any program or portfolio of programs shall adhere to existing protocols for extraordinarily sensitive information. In addition, an energy efficiency program may be deemed to be "in the public interest" if the program (1) provides measurable and verifiable energy savings to low-income customers or elderly customers or (2) is a pilot program of limited scope, cost, and duration, that is intended to determine whether a new or substantially revised program or technology would be cost-effective. "Low-income geographic area" means any locality, or community within a locality, that has a median household income that is not greater than 80 percent of the local median household income, or any area in the Commonwealth designated as a qualified opportunity zone by the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury via his delegation of authority to the Internal Revenue Service. "Low-income utility customer" means any person or household whose income is no more than 80 percent of the median income of the locality in which the customer resides. The median income of the locality is determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. "Measured and verified" means a process determined pursuant to methods accepted for use by utilities and industries to measure, verify, and validate energy savings and peak demand savings. This may include the protocol established by the United States Department of Energy, Office of Federal Energy Management Programs, Measurement and Verification Guidance for Federal Energy Projects, measurement and verification standards developed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), or engineering-based estimates of energy and demand savings associated with specific energy efficiency measures, as determined by the Commission. "Municipality" means a city, county, town, authority, or other political subdivision of the Commonwealth. "New underground facilities" means facilities to provide underground distribution service. "New underground facilities" includes underground cables with voltages of 69 kilovolts or less, pad-mounted devices, connections at customer meters, and transition terminations from existing overhead distribution sources. "Peak-shaving" means measures aimed solely at shifting time of use of electricity from peak-use periods to times of lower demand by inducing retail customers to curtail electricity usage during periods of congestion and higher prices in the electrical grid. "Percentage of Income Payment Program (PIPP) eligible utility customer" means any person or household whose income does not exceed 150 percent of the federal poverty level. "Person" means any individual, corporation, partnership, association, company, business, trust, joint venture, or other private legal entity, and the Commonwealth or any municipality. "Previously developed project site" means any property, including related buffer areas, if any, that has been previously disturbed or developed for non-single-family residential, non-agricultural, or non-silvicultural use, regardless of whether such property currently is being used for any purpose. "Previously developed project site" includes a brownfield as defined in § 10.1-1230 or any parcel that has been previously used (i) for a retail, commercial, or industrial purpose; (ii) as a parking lot; (iii) as the site of a parking lot canopy or structure; (iv) for mining, which is any lands affected by coal mining that took place before August 3, 1977, or any lands upon which extraction activities have been permitted by the Department of Energy under Title 45.2; (v) for quarrying; or (vi) as a landfill. "Qualified waste heat resource" means (i) exhaust heat or flared gas from an industrial process that does not have, as its primary purpose, the production of electricity and (ii) a pressure drop in any gas for an industrial or commercial process. "Renewable energy" means energy derived from sunlight, wind, falling water, biomass, sustainable or otherwise, (the definitions of which shall be liberally construed), energy from waste, landfill gas, municipal solid waste, wave motion, tides, geothermal heating and cooling systems, and geothermal electric generating resources and does not include energy derived from coal, oil, natural gas, or nuclear power. "Renewable energy" also includes the proportion of the thermal or electric energy from a facility that results from the co-firing of biomass. "Renewable energy" does not include waste heat from fossil-fired facilities or electricity generated from pumped storage but includes run-of-river generation from a combined pumped-storage and run-of-river facility. "Renewable thermal energy" means the thermal energy output from (i) a renewable-fueled combined heat and power generation facility that is (a) constructed, or renovated and improved, after January 1, 2012, (b) located in the Commonwealth, and (c) utilized in industrial processes other than the combined heat and power generation facility or (ii) a solar energy system, certified to the OG-100 standard of the Solar Ratings and Certification Corporation or an equivalent certification body, that (a) is constructed, or renovated and improved, after January 1, 2013, (b) is located in the Commonwealth, and (c) heats water or air for residential, commercial, institutional, or industrial purposes. "Renewable thermal energy equivalent" means the electrical equivalent in megawatt hours of renewable thermal energy calculated by dividing (i) the heat content, measured in British thermal units (BTUs), of the renewable thermal energy at the point of transfer to a residential, commercial, institutional, or industrial process by (ii) the standard conversion factor of 3.413 million BTUs per megawatt hour. "Renovated and improved facility" means a facility the components of which have been upgraded to enhance its operating efficiency. "Retail customer" means any person that purchases retail electric energy for its own consumption at one or more metering points or nonmetered points of delivery located in the Commonwealth. "Retail electric energy" means electric energy sold for ultimate consumption to a retail customer. "Revenue reductions related to energy efficiency programs" means reductions in the collection of total non-fuel revenues, previously authorized by the Commission to be recovered from customers by a utility, that occur due to measured and verified decreased consumption of electricity caused by energy efficiency programs approved by the Commission and implemented by the utility, less the amount by which such non-fuel reductions in total revenues have been mitigated through other program-related factors, including reductions in variable operating expenses. "Rooftop solar installation" means a distributed electric generation facility, storage facility, or generation and storage facility utilizing energy derived from sunlight, with a rated capacity of not less than 50 kilowatts, that is installed on the roof structure of an incumbent electric utility's commercial or industrial class customer, including host sites on commercial buildings, multifamily residential buildings, school or university buildings, and buildings of a church or religious body. "Solar energy system" means a system of components that produces heat or electricity, or both, from sunlight. "Supplier" means any generator, distributor, aggregator, broker, marketer, or other person who offers to sell or sells electric energy to retail customers and is licensed by the Commission to do so, but it does not mean a generator that produces electric energy exclusively for its own consumption or the consumption of an affiliate. "Supply" or "supplying" electric energy means the sale of or the offer to sell electric energy to a retail customer. "Total annual energy savings" means (i) the total combined kilowatt-hour savings achieved by electric utility energy efficiency and demand response programs and measures installed in that program year, as well as savings still being achieved by measures and programs implemented in prior years, or (ii) savings attributable to newly installed combined heat and power facilities, including waste heat-to-power facilities, and any associated reduction in transmission line losses, provided that biomass is not a fuel and the total efficiency, including the use of thermal energy, for eligible combined heat and power facilitates must meet or exceed 65 percent and have a nameplate capacity rating of less than 25 megawatts. "Transmission of," "transmit," or "transmitting" electric energy means the transfer of electric energy through the Commonwealth's interconnected transmission grid from a generator to either a distributor or a retail customer. "Transmission system" means those facilities and equipment that are required to provide for the transmission of electric energy. "Waste heat to power" means a system that generates electricity through the recovery of a qualified waste heat resource. 1999, c. 411; 2000, c. 991; 2001, c. 421; 2007, cc. 888, 933; 2008, cc. 272, 883; 2009, cc. 748, 824; 2012, cc. 46, 200, 210, 821; 2013, c. 494; 2014, cc. 212, 548; 2018, c. 296; 2019, cc. 535, 741; 2020, cc. 1193, 1194, 1225; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 308, 532; 2022, c. 216; 2024, cc. 597, 607, 794, 818; 2025, c. 714.

Va. Code § 56-585.1

§ 56-585.1. Generation, distribution, and transmission rates after capped rates terminate or expire.A. During the first six months of 2009, the Commission shall, after notice and opportunity for hearing, initiate proceedings to review the rates, terms and conditions for the provision of generation, distribution and transmission services of each investor-owned incumbent electric utility. Such proceedings shall be governed by the provisions of Chapter 10 (§ 56-232 et seq.), except as modified herein. In such proceedings the Commission shall determine fair rates of return on common equity applicable to the generation and distribution services of the utility. In so doing, the Commission may use any methodology to determine such return it finds consistent with the public interest, but such return shall not be set lower than the average of the returns on common equity reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission for the three most recent annual periods for which such data are available by not less than a majority, selected by the Commission as specified in subdivision 2 b, of other investor-owned electric utilities in the peer group of the utility, nor shall the Commission set such return more than 300 basis points higher than such average. The peer group of the utility shall be determined in the manner prescribed in subdivision 2 b. The Commission may increase or decrease such combined rate of return by up to 100 basis points based on the generating plant performance, customer service, and operating efficiency of a utility, as compared to nationally recognized standards determined by the Commission to be appropriate for such purposes. In such a proceeding, the Commission shall determine the rates that the utility may charge until such rates are adjusted. If the Commission finds that the utility's combined rate of return on common equity is more than 50 basis points below the combined rate of return as so determined, it shall be authorized to order increases to the utility's rates necessary to provide the opportunity to fully recover the costs of providing the utility's services and to earn not less than such combined rate of return. If the Commission finds that the utility's combined rate of return on common equity is more than 50 basis points above the combined rate of return as so determined, it shall be authorized either (i) to order reductions to the utility's rates it finds appropriate, provided that the Commission may not order such rate reduction unless it finds that the resulting rates will provide the utility with the opportunity to fully recover its costs of providing its services and to earn not less than the fair rates of return on common equity applicable to the generation and distribution services; or (ii) to direct that 60 percent of the amount of the utility's earnings that were more than 50 basis points above the fair combined rate of return for calendar year 2008 be credited to customers' bills, in which event such credits shall be amortized over a period of six to 12 months, as determined at the discretion of the Commission, following the effective date of the Commission's order and be allocated among customer classes such that the relationship between the specific customer class rates of return to the overall target rate of return will have the same relationship as the last approved allocation of revenues used to design base rates. Commencing in 2011, the Commission, after notice and opportunity for hearing, shall conduct reviews of the rates, terms and conditions for the provision of generation, distribution and transmission services by each investor-owned incumbent electric utility, subject to the following provisions: 1. Rates, terms and conditions for each service shall be reviewed separately on an unbundled basis, and such reviews shall be conducted in a single, combined proceeding. Pursuant to subsection A of § 56-585.1:1, the Commission shall conduct a review for a Phase I Utility in 2020, utilizing the three successive 12-month test periods beginning January 1, 2017, and ending December 31, 2019. Thereafter, reviews for a Phase I Utility will be on a triennial basis with subsequent proceedings utilizing the three successive 12-month test periods ending December 31 immediately preceding the year in which such review proceeding is conducted. Pursuant to subsection A of § 56-585.1:1, the Commission shall conduct a review for a Phase II Utility in 2021, utilizing the four successive 12-month test periods beginning January 1, 2017, and ending December 31, 2020, with subsequent reviews on a biennial basis commencing in 2023, with such proceedings utilizing the two successive 12-month test periods ending December 31 immediately preceding the year in which such review proceeding is conducted. For purposes of this section, a Phase I Utility is an investor-owned incumbent electric utility that was, as of July 1, 1999, not bound by a rate case settlement adopted by the Commission that extended in its application beyond January 1, 2002, and a Phase II Utility is an investor-owned incumbent electric utility that was bound by such a settlement. 2. Subject to the provisions of subdivision 6, the fair rate of return on common equity applicable separately to the generation and distribution services of such utility, and for the two such services combined, and for any rate adjustment clauses approved under subdivision 5 or 6, shall be determined by the Commission during each such review, as follows: a. The Commission may use any methodology to determine such return it finds consistent with the public interest. However, for a Phase I Utility, for applications received by the Commission on or after January 1, 2020, such return shall not be set lower than the average of either (i) the returns on common equity reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission for the three most recent annual periods for which such data are available by not less than a majority, selected by the Commission as specified in subdivision 2 b, of other investor-owned electric utilities in the peer group of the utility subject to such triennial review or (ii) the authorized returns on common equity that are set by the applicable regulatory commissions for the same selected peer group, nor shall the Commission set such return more than 150 basis points higher than such average. b. For a Phase I Utility, in selecting such majority of peer group investor-owned electric utilities for applications received by the Commission on or after January 1, 2020, the Commission shall first remove from such group the two utilities within such group that have the lowest reported or authorized, as applicable, returns of the group, as well as the two utilities within such group that have the highest reported or authorized, as applicable, returns of the group, and the Commission shall then select a majority of the utilities remaining in such peer group. In its final order regarding such triennial review, the Commission shall identify the utilities in such peer group it selected for the calculation of such limitation. With respect to a Phase I Utility, for purposes of this subdivision 2, an investor-owned electric utility shall be deemed part of such peer group if (i) its principal operations are conducted in the southeastern United States east of the Mississippi River in either the states of West Virginia or Kentucky or in those states south of Virginia, excluding the state of Tennessee, (ii) it is a vertically-integrated electric utility providing generation, transmission, and distribution services whose facilities and operations are subject to state public utility regulation in the state where its principal operations are conducted, (iii) it had a long-term bond rating assigned by Moody's Investors Service of at least Baa at the end of the most recent test period subject to such review, and (iv) it is not an affiliate of the utility subject to such review or a utility whose fair rate of return on common equity is determined by the Commission. c. The Commission may increase or decrease the utility's combined rate of return for generation and distribution services by up to 50 basis points based on factors that may include reliability, generating plant performance, customer service, and operating efficiency of a utility. Any such adjustment to the combined rate of return for generation and distribution services shall include consideration of nationally recognized standards determined by the Commission to be appropriate for such purposes. d. In any Current Proceeding, the Commission shall determine whether the Current Return has increased, on a percentage basis, above the Initial Return by more than the increase, expressed as a percentage, in the United States Average Consumer Price Index for all items, all urban consumers (CPI-U), as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor, since the date on which the Commission determined the Initial Return. If so, the Commission may conduct an additional analysis of whether it is in the public interest to utilize such Current Return for the Current Proceeding then pending. A finding of whether the Current Return justifies such additional analysis shall be made without regard to any enhanced rate of return on common equity awarded pursuant to the provisions of subdivision 6. Such additional analysis shall include, but not be limited to, a consideration of overall economic conditions, the level of interest rates and cost of capital with respect to business and industry, in general, as well as electric utilities, the current level of inflation and the utility's cost of goods and services, the effect on the utility's ability to provide adequate service and to attract capital if less than the Current Return were utilized for the Current Proceeding then pending, and such other factors as the Commission may deem relevant. If, as a result of such analysis, the Commission finds that use of the Current Return for the Current Proceeding then pending would not be in the public interest, then the lower limit imposed by subdivision 2 a on the return to be determined by the Commission for such utility shall be calculated, for that Current Proceeding only, by increasing the Initial Return by a percentage at least equal to the increase, expressed as a percentage, in the United States Average Consumer Price Index for all items, all urban consumers (CPI-U), as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor, since the date on which the Commission determined the Initial Return. For purposes of this subdivision: "Current Proceeding" means any proceeding conducted under any provisions of this subsection that require or authorize the Commission to determine a fair combined rate of return on common equity for a utility and that will be concluded after the date on which the Commission determined the Initial Return for such utility. "Current Return" means the minimum fair combined rate of return on common equity required for any Current Proceeding by the limitation regarding a utility's peer group specified in subdivision 2 a. "Initial Return" means the fair combined rate of return on common equity determined for such utility by the Commission on the first occasion after July 1, 2009, under any provision of this subsection pursuant to the provisions of subdivision 2 a. e. In addition to other considerations, in setting the return on equity within the range allowed by this section, the Commission shall strive to maintain costs of retail electric energy that are cost competitive with costs of retail electric energy provided by the other peer group investor-owned electric utilities. f. The determination of such returns shall be made by the Commission on a stand-alone basis, and specifically without regard to any return on common equity or other matters determined with regard to facilities described in subdivision 6. g. If the combined rate of return on common equity earned by the generation and distribution services is no more than 50 basis points above or below the return as so determined or, for any test period commencing after December 31, 2012, for a Phase II Utility and after December 31, 2013, for a Phase I Utility, such return is no more than 70 basis points above or below the return as so determined, such combined return shall not be considered either excessive or insufficient, respectively. However, for any test period commencing after December 31, 2012, for a Phase II Utility, and after December 31, 2013, for a Phase I Utility, if the utility has, during the test period or periods under review, earned below the return as so determined, whether or not such combined return is within 70 basis points of the return as so determined, the utility may petition the Commission for approval of an increase in rates in accordance with the provisions of subdivision 8 a as if it had earned more than 70 basis points below a fair combined rate of return, and such proceeding shall otherwise be conducted in accordance with the provisions of this section. The provisions of this subdivision are subject to the provisions of subdivision 8. h. Any amount of a utility's earnings directed by the Commission to be credited to customers' bills pursuant to this section shall not be considered for the purpose of determining the utility's earnings in any subsequent review. 3. Each such utility shall make a triennial filing by March 31 of every third year, with such filings commencing for a Phase I Utility in 2020, and such filings commencing for a Phase II Utility in 2021 and terminating thereafter. Such filing shall encompass the three successive 12-month test periods ending December 31 immediately preceding the year in which such proceeding is conducted, except that the filing for a Phase II Utility in 2021 shall encompass the four successive 12-month test periods ending December 31, 2020. After 2021, each Phase II Utility shall make a biennial filing by March 31 of every second year, except that the 2023 filing for a Phase II Utility shall be made on or after July 1, 2023. All biennial filings shall encompass the two successive 12-month test periods ending December 31 immediately preceding the year in which such review proceeding is conducted. All such filings shall consist of the schedules contained in the Commission's rules governing utility rate increase applications, and in every such case the filing for each year shall be identified separately and shall be segregated from any other year encompassed by the filing. In a filing under this subdivision that does not result in an overall rate change, a utility may propose an adjustment to one or more tariffs that are revenue neutral to the utility. If the Commission determines that rates should be revised or credits be applied to customers' bills pursuant to subdivision 8 or 10, any rate adjustment clauses previously implemented related to facilities utilizing simple-cycle combustion turbines described in subdivision 6, shall be combined with the utility's costs, revenues, and investments until the amounts that are the subject of such rate adjustment clauses are fully recovered. The Commission shall combine such clauses with the utility's costs, revenues, and investments only after it makes its initial determination with regard to necessary rate revisions or credits to customers' bills, and the amounts thereof, but after such clauses are combined as specified in this paragraph, they shall thereafter be considered part of the utility's costs, revenues, and investments for the purposes of future review proceedings. As of July 1, 2023, a Phase II Utility shall select a subset of rate adjustment clauses previously implemented pursuant to subdivision 5 or 6 having a combined annual revenue requirement, as of July 1, 2023, of at least $350 million and combine such rate adjustment clauses with the utility's costs, revenues, and investments for generation and distribution services. After such rate adjustment clauses are combined as specified in this paragraph, such rate adjustment clauses shall be considered part of the utility's costs, revenues, and investments for the purposes of future biennial review proceedings, and the combination of such rate adjustment clauses shall be specifically subject to audit by the Commission in the utility's 2023 biennial review filing. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection C of § 56-581, such combination shall not serve as the basis for an increase in a Phase II Utility's rates for generation and distribution services in its 2023 biennial proceeding. 4. The following costs incurred by the utility shall be deemed reasonable and prudent: (i) costs for transmission services provided to the utility by the regional transmission entity of which the utility is a member, as determined under applicable rates, terms and conditions approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; (ii) costs charged to the utility that are associated with demand response programs approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and administered by the regional transmission entity of which the utility is a member; and (iii) costs incurred by the utility to construct, operate, and maintain transmission lines and substations installed in order to provide service to a business park. Upon petition of a utility at any time after the expiration or termination of capped rates, but not more than once in any 12-month period, the Commission shall approve a rate adjustment clause under which such costs, including, without limitation, costs for transmission service; charges for new and existing transmission facilities, including costs incurred by the utility to construct, operate, and maintain transmission lines and substations installed in order to provide service to a business park; administrative charges; and ancillary service charges designed to recover transmission costs, shall be recovered on a timely and current basis from customers. Retail rates to recover these costs shall be designed using the appropriate billing determinants in the retail rate schedules. 5. A utility may at any time, after the expiration or termination of capped rates, but not more than once in any 12-month period, petition the Commission for approval of one or more rate adjustment clauses for the timely and current recovery from customers of the following costs: a. Incremental costs described in clause (vi) of subsection B of § 56-582 incurred between July 1, 2004, and the expiration or termination of capped rates, if such utility is, as of July 1, 2007, deferring such costs consistent with an order of the Commission entered under clause (vi) of subsection B of § 56-582. The Commission shall approve such a petition allowing the recovery of such costs that comply with the requirements of clause (vi) of subsection B of § 56-582; b. Projected and actual costs for the utility to design and operate fair and effective peak-shaving programs or pilot programs. The Commission shall approve such a petition if it finds that the program is in the public interest, provided that the Commission shall allow the recovery of such costs as it finds are reasonable; c. Projected and actual costs for the utility to design, implement, and operate energy efficiency programs or pilot programs. Any such petition shall include a proposed budget for the design, implementation, and operation of the energy efficiency program, including anticipated savings from and spending on each program, and the Commission shall grant a final order on such petitions within eight months of initial filing. The Commission shall only approve such a petition if it finds that the program is in the public interest. If the Commission determines that an energy efficiency program or portfolio of programs is not in the public interest, its final order shall include all work product and analysis conducted by the Commission's staff in relation to that program that has bearing upon the Commission's determination. Such order shall adhere to existing protocols for extraordinarily sensitive information. Energy efficiency pilot programs are in the public interest provided that the pilot program is (i) of limited scope, cost, and duration and (ii) intended to determine whether a new or substantially revised program would be cost-effective. Prior to January 1, 2022, the Commission shall award a margin for recovery on operating expenses for energy efficiency programs and pilot programs, which margin shall be equal to the general rate of return on common equity determined as described in subdivision 2. Beginning January 1, 2022, and thereafter, if the Commission determines that the utility meets in any year the annual energy efficiency standards set forth in § 56-596.2, in the following year, the Commission shall award a margin on energy efficiency program operating expenses in that year, to be recovered through a rate adjustment clause, which margin shall be equal to the general rate of return on common equity determined as described in subdivision 2. If the Commission does not approve energy efficiency programs that, in the aggregate, can achieve the annual energy efficiency standards, the Commission shall award a margin on energy efficiency operating expenses in that year for any programs the Commission has approved, to be recovered through a rate adjustment clause under this subdivision, which margin shall equal the general rate of return on common equity determined as described in subdivision 2. Any margin awarded pursuant to this subdivision shall be applied as part of the utility's next rate adjustment clause true-up proceeding. The Commission shall also award an additional 20 basis points for each additional incremental 0.1 percent in annual savings in any year achieved by the utility's energy efficiency programs approved by the Commission pursuant to this subdivision, beyond the annual requirements set forth in § 56-596.2, provided that the total performance incentive awarded in any year shall not exceed 10 percent of that utility's total energy efficiency program spending in that same year. The Commission shall annually monitor and report to the General Assembly the performance of all programs approved pursuant to this subdivision, including each utility's compliance with the total annual savings required by § 56-596.2, as well as the annual and lifecycle net and gross energy and capacity savings, related emissions reductions, and other quantifiable benefits of each program; total customer bill savings that the programs produce; utility spending on each program, including any associated administrative costs; and each utility's avoided costs and cost-effectiveness results. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, unless the Commission finds in its discretion and after consideration of all in-state and regional transmission entity resources that there is a threat to the reliability or security of electric service to the utility's customers, the Commission shall not approve construction of any new utility-owned generating facilities that emit carbon dioxide as a by-product of combusting fuel to generate electricity unless the utility has already met the energy savings goals identified in § 56-596.2 and the Commission finds that supply-side resources are more cost-effective than demand-side or energy storage resources. As used in this subdivision, "large general service customer" means a customer that has a verifiable history of having used more than one megawatt of demand from a single site. Large general service customers shall be exempt from requirements that they participate in energy efficiency programs if the Commission finds that the large general service customer has, at the customer's own expense, implemented energy efficiency programs that have produced or will produce measured and verified results consistent with industry standards and other regulatory criteria stated in this section. The Commission shall, no later than June 30, 2021, adopt rules or regulations (a) establishing the process for large general service customers to apply for such an exemption, (b) establishing the administrative procedures by which eligible customers will notify the utility, and (c) defining the standard criteria that shall be satisfied by an applicant in order to notify the utility, including means of evaluation measurement and verification and confidentiality requirements. At a minimum, such rules and regulations shall require that each exempted large general service customer certify to the utility and Commission that its implemented energy efficiency programs have delivered measured and verified savings within the prior five years. In adopting such rules or regulations, the Commission shall also specify the timing as to when a utility shall accept and act on such notice, taking into consideration the utility's integrated resource planning process, as well as its administration of energy efficiency programs that are approved for cost recovery by the Commission. Savings from large general service customers shall be accounted for in utility reporting in the standards in § 56-596.2. The notice of nonparticipation by a large general service customer shall be for the duration of the service life of the customer's energy efficiency measures. The Commission may on its own motion initiate steps necessary to verify such nonparticipant's achievement of energy efficiency if the Commission has a body of evidence that the nonparticipant has knowingly misrepresented its energy efficiency achievement. A utility shall not charge such large general service customer for the costs of installing energy efficiency equipment beyond what is required to provide electric service and meter such service on the customer's premises if the customer provides, at the customer's expense, equivalent energy efficiency equipment. In all relevant proceedings pursuant to this section, the Commission shall take into consideration the goals of economic development, energy efficiency and environmental protection in the Commonwealth; d. Projected and actual costs of compliance with renewable energy portfolio standard requirements pursuant to § 56-585.5 that are not recoverable under subdivision 6. The Commission shall approve such a petition allowing the recovery of such costs incurred as required by § 56-585.5, provided that the Commission does not otherwise find such costs were unreasonably or imprudently incurred; e. Projected and actual costs of projects that the Commission finds to be necessary to mitigate impacts to marine life caused by construction of offshore wind generating facilities, as described in § 56-585.1:11, or to comply with state or federal environmental laws or regulations applicable to generation facilities used to serve the utility's native load obligations, including the costs of allowances purchased through a market-based trading program for carbon dioxide emissions. The Commission shall approve such a petition if it finds that such costs are necessary to comply with such environmental laws or regulations; f. Projected and actual costs, not currently in rates, for the utility to design, implement, and operate programs approved by the Commission that accelerate the vegetation management of distribution rights-of-way. No costs shall be allocated to or recovered from customers that are served within the large general service rate classes for a Phase II Utility or that are served at subtransmission or transmission voltage, or take delivery at a substation served from subtransmission or transmission voltage, for a Phase I Utility; and g. Projected and actual costs, not currently in rates, for the utility to design, implement, and operate programs approved by the Commission to provide incentives to (i) low-income, elderly, and disabled individuals or (ii) organizations providing residential services to low-income, elderly, and disabled individuals for the installation of, or access to, equipment to generate electric energy derived from sunlight, provided the low-income, elderly, and disabled individuals, or organizations providing residential services to low-income, elderly, and disabled individuals, first participate in incentive programs for the installation of measures that reduce heating or cooling costs. Any rate adjustment clause approved under subdivision 5 c by the Commission shall remain in effect until the utility exhausts the approved budget for the energy efficiency program. The Commission shall have the authority to determine the duration or amortization period for any other rate adjustment clause approved under this subdivision. 6. To ensure the generation and delivery of a reliable and adequate supply of electricity, to meet the utility's projected native load obligations and to promote economic development, a utility may at any time, after the expiration or termination of capped rates, petition the Commission for approval of a rate adjustment clause for recovery on a timely and current basis from customers of the costs of (i) a coal-fueled generation facility that utilizes Virginia coal and is located in the coalfield region of the Commonwealth as described in § 15.2-6002, regardless of whether such facility is located within or without the utility's service territory, (ii) one or more other generation facilities, (iii) one or more major unit modifications of generation facilities, including the costs of any system or equipment upgrade, system or equipment replacement, or other cost reasonably appropriate to extend the combined operating license for or the operating life of one or more generation facilities utilizing nuclear power, (iv) one or more new underground facilities to replace one or more existing overhead distribution facilities of 69 kilovolts or less located within the Commonwealth, (v) one or more pumped hydroelectricity generation and storage facilities that utilize on-site or off-site renewable energy resources as all or a portion of their power source and such facilities and associated resources are located in the coalfield region of the Commonwealth as described in § 15.2-6002, regardless of whether such facility is located within or without the utility's service territory, or (vi) one or more electric distribution grid transformation projects; however, subject to the provisions of the following sentence, the utility shall not file a petition under clause (iv) more often than annually and, in such petition, shall not seek any annual incremental increase in the level of investments associated with such a petition that exceeds five percent of such utility's distribution rate base, as such rate base was determined for the most recently ended 12-month test period in the utility's latest review proceeding conducted pursuant to subdivision 3 and concluded by final order of the Commission prior to the date of filing of such petition under clause (iv). In all proceedings regarding petitions filed under clause (iv) or (vi), the level of investments approved for recovery in such proceedings shall be in addition to, and not in lieu of, levels of investments previously approved for recovery in prior proceedings under clause (iv) or (vi), as applicable. As of December 1, 2028, any costs recovered by a utility pursuant to clause (iv) shall be limited to any remaining costs associated with conversions of overhead distribution facilities to underground facilities that have been previously approved or are pending approval by the Commission through a petition by the utility under this subdivision. Such a petition concerning facilities described in clause (ii) that utilize nuclear power, facilities described in clause (ii) that are coal-fueled and will be built by a Phase I Utility, or facilities described in clause (i) may also be filed before the expiration or termination of capped rates. A utility that constructs or makes modifications to any such facility, or purchases any facility consisting of at least one megawatt of generating capacity using energy derived from sunlight and located in the Commonwealth and that utilizes goods or services sourced, in whole or in part, from one or more Virginia businesses, shall have the right to recover the costs of the facility, as accrued against income, through its rates, including projected construction work in progress, and any associated allowance for funds used during construction, planning, development and construction or acquisition costs, life-cycle costs, costs related to assessing the feasibility of potential sites for new underground facilities, and costs of infrastructure associated therewith, plus, as an incentive to undertake such projects, an enhanced rate of return on common equity calculated as specified below; however, in determining the amounts recoverable under a rate adjustment clause for new underground facilities, the Commission shall not consider, or increase or reduce such amounts recoverable because of (a) the operation and maintenance costs attributable to either the overhead distribution facilities being replaced or the new underground facilities or (b) any other costs attributable to the overhead distribution facilities being replaced. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, the costs described in clauses (a) and (b) thereof shall remain eligible for recovery from customers through the utility's base rates for distribution service. A utility filing a petition for approval to construct or purchase a facility consisting of at least one megawatt of generating capacity using energy derived from sunlight and located in the Commonwealth and that utilizes goods or services sourced, in whole or in part, from one or more Virginia businesses may propose a rate adjustment clause based on a market index in lieu of a cost of service model for such facility. A utility seeking approval to construct or purchase a generating facility that emits carbon dioxide shall demonstrate that it has already met the energy savings goals identified in § 56-596.2 and that the identified need cannot be met more affordably through the deployment or utilization of demand-side resources or energy storage resources and that it has considered and weighed alternative options, including third-party market alternatives, in its selection process. The costs of the facility, other than return on projected construction work in progress and allowance for funds used during construction, shall not be recovered prior to the date a facility constructed by the utility and described in clause (i), (ii), (iii), or (v) begins commercial operation, the date the utility becomes the owner of a purchased generation facility consisting of at least one megawatt of generating capacity using energy derived from sunlight and located in the Commonwealth and that utilizes goods or services sourced, in whole or in part, from one or more Virginia businesses, or the date new underground facilities are classified by the utility as plant in service. In any application to construct a new generating facility, the utility shall include, and the Commission shall consider, the social cost of carbon, as determined by the Commission, as a benefit or cost, whichever is appropriate. The Commission shall ensure that the development of new, or expansion of existing, energy resources or facilities does not have a disproportionate adverse impact on historically economically disadvantaged communities. The Commission may adopt any rules it deems necessary to determine the social cost of carbon and shall use the best available science and technology, including the Technical Support Document: Technical Update of the Social Cost of Carbon for Regulatory Impact Analysis Under Executive Order 12866, published by the Interagency Working Group on Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases from the United States Government in August 2016, as guidance. The Commission shall include a system to adjust the costs established in this section with inflation. Such enhanced rate of return on common equity shall be applied to allowance for funds used during construction and to construction work in progress during the construction phase of the facility and shall thereafter be applied to the entire facility during the first portion of the service life of the facility. The first portion of the service life shall be as specified in the table below; however, the Commission shall determine the duration of the first portion of the service life of any facility, within the range specified in the table below, which determination shall be consistent with the public interest and shall reflect the Commission's determinations regarding how critical the facility may be in meeting the energy needs of the citizens of the Commonwealth and the risks involved in the development of the facility. After the first portion of the service life of the facility is concluded, the utility's general rate of return shall be applied to such facility for the remainder of its service life. As used herein, the service life of the facility shall be deemed to begin on the date a facility constructed by the utility and described in clause (i), (ii), (iii), or (v) begins commercial operation, the date the utility becomes the owner of a purchased generation facility consisting of at least one megawatt of generating capacity using energy derived from sunlight and located in the Commonwealth and that utilizes goods or services sourced, in whole or in part, from one or more Virginia businesses, or the date new underground facilities or new electric distribution grid transformation projects are classified by the utility as plant in service, and such service life shall be deemed equal in years to the life of that facility as used to calculate the utility's depreciation expense. Such enhanced rate of return on common equity shall be calculated by adding the basis points specified in the table below to the utility's general rate of return, and such enhanced rate of return shall apply only to the facility that is the subject of such rate adjustment clause. Allowance for funds used during construction shall be calculated for any such facility utilizing the utility's actual capital structure and overall cost of capital, including an enhanced rate of return on common equity as determined pursuant to this subdivision, until such construction work in progress is included in rates. The construction of any facility described in clause (i) or (v) is in the public interest, and in determining whether to approve such facility, the Commission shall liberally construe the provisions of this title. The construction or purchase by a utility of one or more generation facilities with at least one megawatt of generating capacity, and with an aggregate rated capacity that does not exceed 16,100 megawatts, including rooftop solar installations with a capacity of not less than 50 kilowatts, and with an aggregate capacity of 100 megawatts, that use energy derived from sunlight or from onshore wind and are located in the Commonwealth or off the Commonwealth's Atlantic shoreline, regardless of whether any of such facilities are located within or without the utility's service territory, is in the public interest, and in determining whether to approve such facility, the Commission shall liberally construe the provisions of this title. A utility may enter into short-term or long-term power purchase contracts for the power derived from sunlight generated by such generation facility prior to purchasing the generation facility. The replacement of any subset of a utility's existing overhead distribution tap lines that have, in the aggregate, an average of nine or more total unplanned outage events-per-mile over a preceding 10-year period with new underground facilities in order to improve electric service reliability is in the public interest. In determining whether to approve petitions for rate adjustment clauses for such new underground facilities that meet this criteria, and in determining the level of costs to be recovered thereunder, the Commission shall liberally construe the provisions of this title. The conversion of any such facilities on or after September 1, 2016, is deemed to provide local and system-wide benefits and to be cost beneficial, and the costs associated with such new underground facilities are deemed to be reasonably and prudently incurred and, notwithstanding the provisions of subsection C or D, shall be approved for recovery by the Commission pursuant to this subdivision, provided that the total costs associated with the replacement of any subset of existing overhead distribution tap lines proposed by the utility with new underground facilities, exclusive of financing costs, shall not exceed an average cost per customer of $20,000, with such customers, including those served directly by or downline of the tap lines proposed for conversion, and, further, such total costs shall not exceed an average cost per mile of tap lines converted, exclusive of financing costs, of $750,000. A utility shall, without regard for whether it has petitioned for any rate adjustment clause pursuant to clause (vi), petition the Commission, not more than once annually, for approval of a plan for electric distribution grid transformation projects. Any plan for electric distribution grid transformation projects shall include both measures to facilitate integration of distributed energy resources and measures to enhance physical electric distribution grid reliability and security. In ruling upon such a petition, the Commission shall consider whether the utility's plan for such projects, and the projected costs associated therewith, are reasonable and prudent. Such petition shall be considered on a stand-alone basis without regard to the other costs, revenues, investments, or earnings of the utility; without regard to whether the costs associated with such projects will be recovered through a rate adjustment clause under this subdivision or through the utility's rates for generation and distribution services; and without regard to whether such costs will be the subject of a customer credit offset, as applicable, pursuant to subdivision 8 d. The Commission's final order regarding any such petition for approval of an electric distribution grid transformation plan shall be entered by the Commission not more than six months after the date of filing such petition. The Commission shall likewise enter its final order with respect to any petition by a utility for a certificate to construct and operate a generating facility or facilities utilizing energy derived from sunlight, pursuant to subsection D of § 56-580, within six months after the date of filing such petition. The basis points to be added to the utility's general rate of return to calculate the enhanced rate of return on common equity, and the first portion of that facility's service life to which such enhanced rate of return shall be applied, shall vary by type of facility, as specified in the following table: aType of Generation FacilityBasis PointsFirst Portion of Service Life bNuclear-powered200Between 12 and 25 years cCarbon capture compatible, clean-coal powered200Between 10 and 20 years dRenewable powered, other than landfill gas powered200Between 5 and 15 years eCoalbed methane gas powered150Between 5 and 15 years fLandfill gas powered200Between 5 and 15 years gConventional coal or combined-cycle combustion turbine100Between 10 and 20 years Only those facilities as to which a rate adjustment clause under this subdivision has been previously approved by the Commission, or as to which a petition for approval of such rate adjustment clause was filed with the Commission, on or before January 1, 2013, shall be entitled to the enhanced rate of return on common equity as specified in the above table during the construction phase of the facility and the approved first portion of its service life. Thirty percent of all costs of such a facility utilizing nuclear power that the utility incurred between July 1, 2007, and December 31, 2013, and all of such costs incurred after December 31, 2013, may be deferred by the utility and recovered through a rate adjustment clause under this subdivision at such time as the Commission provides in an order approving such a rate adjustment clause. The remaining 70 percent of all costs of such a facility that the utility incurred between July 1, 2007, and December 31, 2013, shall not be deferred for recovery through a rate adjustment clause under this subdivision; however, such remaining 70 percent of all costs shall be recovered ratably through existing base rates as determined by the Commission in the test periods under review in the utility's next review filed after July 1, 2014. Thirty percent of all costs of a facility utilizing energy derived from offshore wind that the utility incurred between July 1, 2007, and December 31, 2013, and all of such costs incurred after December 31, 2013, may be deferred by the utility and recovered through a rate adjustment clause under this subdivision at such time as the Commission provides in an order approving such a rate adjustment clause. The remaining 70 percent of all costs of such a facility that the utility incurred between July 1, 2007, and December 31, 2013, shall not be deferred for recovery through a rate adjustment clause under this subdivision; however, such remaining 70 percent of all costs shall be recovered ratably through existing base rates as determined by the Commission in the test periods under review in the utility's next review filed after July 1, 2014. In connection with planning to meet forecasted demand for electric generation supply and assure the adequate and sufficient reliability of service, consistent with § 56-598, planning and development activities for a new utility-owned and utility-operated generating facility or facilities utilizing energy derived from sunlight or from onshore or offshore wind are in the public interest. Notwithstanding any provision of Chapter 296 of the Acts of Assembly of 2018, construction, purchasing, or leasing activities for a new utility-owned and utility-operated generating facility or facilities utilizing energy derived from sunlight or from onshore wind with an aggregate capacity of 16,100 megawatts, including rooftop solar installations with a capacity of not less than 50 kilowatts, and with an aggregate capacity of 100 megawatts, together with a utility-owned and utility-operated generating facility or facilities utilizing energy derived from offshore wind with an aggregate capacity of not more than 3,000 megawatts, are in the public interest. Additionally, energy storage facilities with an aggregate capacity of 2,700 megawatts are in the public interest. To the extent that a utility elects to recover the costs of any such new generation or energy storage facility or facilities through its rates for generation and distribution services and does not petition and receive approval from the Commission for recovery of such costs through a rate adjustment clause described in clause (ii), the Commission shall, upon the request of the utility in a review proceeding, provide for a customer credit reinvestment offset, as applicable, pursuant to subdivision 8 d with respect to all costs deemed reasonable and prudent by the Commission in a proceeding pursuant to subsection D of § 56-580 or in a review proceeding. Electric distribution grid transformation projects are in the public interest. To the extent that a utility elects to recover the costs of such electric distribution grid transformation projects through its rates for generation and distribution services, and does not petition and receive approval from the Commission for recovery of such costs through a rate adjustment clause described in clause (vi), the Commission shall, upon the request of the utility in a review proceeding, provide for a customer credit reinvestment offset, as applicable, pursuant to subdivision 8 d with respect to all costs deemed reasonable and prudent by the Commission in a proceeding for approval of a plan for electric distribution grid transformation projects pursuant to subdivision 6 or in a review proceeding. Neither generation facilities described in clause (ii) that utilize simple-cycle combustion turbines nor new underground facilities shall receive an enhanced rate of return on common equity as described herein, but instead shall receive the utility's general rate of return during the construction phase of the facility and, thereafter, for the entire service life of the facility. No rate adjustment clause for new underground facilities shall allocate costs to, or provide for the recovery of costs from, customers that are served within the large power service rate class for a Phase I Utility and the large general service rate classes for a Phase II Utility. New underground facilities are hereby declared to be ordinary extensions or improvements in the usual course of business under the provisions of § 56-265.2. As used in this subdivision, a generation facility is (1) "coalbed methane gas powered" if the facility is fired at least 50 percent by coalbed methane gas, as such term is defined in § 45.2-1600, produced from wells located in the Commonwealth, and (2) "landfill gas powered" if the facility is fired by methane or other combustible gas produced by the anaerobic digestion or decomposition of biodegradable materials in a solid waste management facility licensed by the Waste Management Board. A landfill gas powered facility includes, in addition to the generation facility itself, the equipment used in collecting, drying, treating, and compressing the landfill gas and in transmitting the landfill gas from the solid waste management facility where it is collected to the generation facility whe

Va. Code § 56-585.5

§ 56-585.5. Generation of electricity from renewable and zero carbon sources.A. As used in this section: "Accelerated renewable energy buyer" means a commercial or industrial customer of a Phase I or Phase II Utility, irrespective of generation supplier, with an aggregate load over 25 megawatts in the prior calendar year, that enters into arrangements pursuant to subsection G, as certified by the Commission. "Aggregate load" means the combined electrical load associated with selected accounts of an accelerated renewable energy buyer with the same legal entity name as, or in the names of affiliated entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common control of, such legal entity or are the names of affiliated entities under a common parent. "Control" has the same meaning as provided in § 56-585.1:11. "Elementary or secondary" has the same meaning as provided in § 22.1-1. "Falling water" means hydroelectric resources, including run-of-river generation from a combined pumped-storage and run-of-river facility. "Falling water" does not include electricity generated from pumped-storage facilities. "Low-income qualifying projects" means a project that provides a minimum of 50 percent of the respective electric output to low-income utility customers as that term is defined in § 56-576. "Phase I Utility" has the same meaning as provided in subdivision A 1 of § 56-585.1. "Phase II Utility" has the same meaning as provided in subdivision A 1 of § 56-585.1. "Previously developed project site" means any property, including related buffer areas, if any, that has been previously disturbed or developed for non-single-family residential, nonagricultural, or nonsilvicultural use, regardless of whether such property currently is being used for any purpose. "Previously developed project site" includes a brownfield as defined in § 10.1-1230 or any parcel that has been previously used (i) for a retail, commercial, or industrial purpose; (ii) as a parking lot; (iii) as the site of a parking lot canopy or structure; (iv) for mining, which is any lands affected by coal mining that took place before August 3, 1977, or any lands upon which extraction activities have been permitted by the Department of Energy under Title 45.2; (v) for quarrying; or (vi) as a landfill. "Total electric energy" means total electric energy sold to retail customers in the Commonwealth service territory of a Phase I or Phase II Utility, other than accelerated renewable energy buyers, by the incumbent electric utility or other retail supplier of electric energy in the previous calendar year, excluding an amount equivalent to the annual percentages of the electric energy that was supplied to such customer from nuclear generating plants located within the Commonwealth in the previous calendar year, provided such nuclear units were operating by July 1, 2020, or from any zero-carbon electric generating facilities not otherwise RPS eligible sources and placed into service in the Commonwealth after July 1, 2030. "Zero-carbon electricity" means electricity generated by any generating unit that does not emit carbon dioxide as a by-product of combusting fuel to generate electricity. B. 1. By December 31, 2024, except for any coal-fired electric generating units (i) jointly owned with a cooperative utility or (ii) owned and operated by a Phase II Utility located in the coalfield region of the Commonwealth that co-fires with biomass, any Phase I and Phase II Utility shall retire all generating units principally fueled by oil with a rated capacity in excess of 500 megawatts and all coal-fired electric generating units operating in the Commonwealth. 2. By December 31, 2045, except for biomass-fired electric generating units that do not co-fire with coal, each Phase I and II Utility shall retire all other electric generating units located in the Commonwealth that emit carbon as a by-product of combusting fuel to generate electricity. 3. A Phase I or Phase II Utility may petition the Commission for relief from the requirements of this subsection on the basis that the requirement would threaten the reliability or security of electric service to customers. The Commission shall consider in-state and regional transmission entity resources and shall evaluate the reliability of each proposed retirement on a case-by-case basis in ruling upon any such petition. C. Each Phase I and Phase II Utility shall participate in a renewable energy portfolio standard program (RPS Program) that establishes annual goals for the sale of renewable energy to all retail customers in the utility's service territory, other than accelerated renewable energy buyers pursuant to subsection G, regardless of whether such customers purchase electric supply service from the utility or from suppliers other than the utility. To comply with the RPS Program, each Phase I and Phase II Utility shall procure and retire Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) originating from renewable energy standard eligible sources (RPS eligible sources). For purposes of complying with the RPS Program from 2021 to 2024, a Phase I and Phase II Utility may use RECs from any renewable energy facility, as defined in § 56-576, provided that such facilities are located in the Commonwealth or are physically located within the PJM Interconnection, LLC (PJM) region. However, at no time during this period or thereafter may any Phase I or Phase II Utility use RECs from (i) renewable thermal energy, (ii) renewable thermal energy equivalent, or (iii) biomass-fired facilities that are outside the Commonwealth. From compliance year 2025 and all years after, each Phase I and Phase II Utility may only use RECs from RPS eligible sources for compliance with the RPS Program. In order to qualify as RPS eligible sources, such sources must be (a) electric-generating resources that generate electric energy derived from solar or wind located in the Commonwealth or off the Commonwealth's Atlantic shoreline or in federal waters and interconnected directly into the Commonwealth or physically located within the PJM region; (b) falling water resources located in the Commonwealth or physically located within the PJM region that were in operation as of January 1, 2020, that are owned by a Phase I or Phase II Utility or for which a Phase I or Phase II Utility has entered into a contract prior to January 1, 2020, to purchase the energy, capacity, and renewable attributes of such falling water resources; (c) non-utility-owned resources from falling water that (1) are less than 65 megawatts, (2) began commercial operation after December 31, 1979, or (3) added incremental generation representing greater than 50 percent of the original nameplate capacity after December 31, 1979, provided that such resources are located in the Commonwealth or are physically located within the PJM region; (d) waste-to-energy or landfill gas-fired generating resources located in the Commonwealth and in operation as of January 1, 2020, provided that such resources do not use waste heat from fossil fuel combustion; (e) geothermal heating and cooling systems located in the Commonwealth; (f) geothermal electric generating resources located in the Commonwealth or physically located within the PJM region; or (g) biomass-fired facilities in operation in the Commonwealth and in operation as of January 1, 2023, that (1) supply no more than 10 percent of their annual net electrical generation to the electric grid or no more than 15 percent of their annual total useful energy to any entity other than the manufacturing facility to which the generating source is interconnected and are fueled by forest-product manufacturing residuals, including pulping liquor, bark, paper recycling residuals, biowastes, or biomass, as described in subdivisions A 1, 2, and 4 of § 10.1-1308.1, provided that biomass as described in subdivision A 1 of § 10.1-1308.1 results from harvesting in accordance with best management practices for the sustainable harvesting of biomass developed and enforced by the State Forester pursuant to § 10.1-1105, or (2) are owned by a Phase I or Phase II Utility, have less than 52 megawatts capacity, and are fueled by forest-product manufacturing residuals, biowastes, or biomass, as described in subdivisions A 1, 2, and 4 of § 10.1-1308.1, provided that biomass as described in subdivision A 1 of § 10.1-1308.1 results from harvesting in accordance with best management practices for the sustainable harvesting of biomass developed and enforced by the State Forester pursuant to § 10.1-1105. Regardless of any future maintenance, expansion, or refurbishment activities, the total amount of RECs that may be sold by any RPS eligible source using biomass in any year shall be no more than the number of megawatt hours of electricity produced by that facility in 2022; however, in no year may any RPS eligible source using biomass sell RECs in excess of the actual megawatt-hours of electricity generated by such facility that year. In order to comply with the RPS Program, each Phase I and Phase II Utility may use and retire the environmental attributes associated with any existing owned or contracted solar, wind, falling water, or biomass electric generating resources in operation, or proposed for operation, in the Commonwealth or solar, wind, or falling water resources physically located within the PJM region, with such resource qualifying as a Commonwealth-located resource for purposes of this subsection, as of January 1, 2020, provided that such renewable attributes are verified as RECs consistent with the PJM-EIS Generation Attribute Tracking System. 1. The RPS Program requirements shall be a percentage of the total electric energy sold in the previous calendar year and shall be implemented in accordance with the following schedule: aPhase I UtilitiesPhase II Utilities bYearRPS Program Requirement YearRPS Program Requirement

c20216% 202114%

d20227% 202217%

e20238% 202320%

f202410% 202423%

g202514% 202526%

h202617%

202629%

i202720% 202732%

j202824% 202835%

k202927% 202938%

l203030% 203041%

m203133% 203145%

n203236% 203249%

o203339% 203352%

p203442% 203455%

q203545% 203559%

r203653% 203663%

s203753% 203767%

t203857% 203871%

u203961% 203975%

v204065% 204079%

w204168% 204183%

x204271% 204287%

y204374% 204391%

z204477% 204495%

aa204580% 2045 and thereafter 100%

ab204684%

ac204788%

ad204892%

ae204996%

af2050 and thereafter 100%

1. A Phase II Utility shall meet one percent of the RPS Program requirements in any given compliance year with solar, wind, or anaerobic digestion resources of one megawatt or less located in the Commonwealth, with not more than 3,000 kilowatts at any single location or at contiguous locations owned by the same entity or affiliated entities and, to the extent that low-income qualifying projects are available, then no less than 25 percent of such one percent shall be composed of low-income qualifying projects. To the extent that low-income qualifying projects are not available and projects located on or adjacent to public elementary or secondary schools are available, the remainder of no less than 25 percent of such one percent shall be composed of projects located on or adjacent to public elementary or secondary schools. A project located on or adjacent to a public elementary or secondary school shall have a contractual relationship with such school in order to qualify for the provisions of this section.
2. Beginning with the 2025 compliance year and thereafter, at least 75 percent of all RECs used by a Phase II Utility in a compliance period shall come from RPS eligible resources located in the Commonwealth.
3. Any Phase I or Phase II Utility may apply renewable energy sales achieved or RECs acquired in excess of the sales requirement for that RPS Program to the sales requirements for RPS Program requirements in the year in which it was generated and the five calendar years after the renewable energy was generated or the RECs were created. To the extent that a Phase I or Phase II Utility procures RECs for RPS Program compliance from resources the utility does not own, the utility shall be entitled to recover the costs of such certificates at its election pursuant to § 56-249.6 or subdivision A 5 d of § 56-585.1.
4. Energy from a geothermal heating and cooling system is eligible for inclusion in meeting the requirements of the RPS Program. RECs from a geothermal heating and cooling system are created based on the amount of energy, converted from BTUs to kilowatt-hours, that is generated by a geothermal heating and cooling system for space heating and cooling or water heating. The Commission shall determine the form and manner in which such RECs are verified. D. Each Phase I or Phase II Utility shall petition the Commission for necessary approvals to procure zero-carbon electricity generating capacity as set forth in this subsection and energy storage resources as set forth in subsection E. To the extent that a Phase I or Phase II Utility constructs or acquires new zero-carbon generating facilities or energy storage resources, the utility shall petition the Commission for the recovery of the costs of such facilities, at the utility's election, either through its rates for generation and distribution services or through a rate adjustment clause pursuant to subdivision A 6 of § 56-585.1. All costs not sought for recovery through a rate adjustment clause pursuant to subdivision A 6 of § 56-585.1 associated with generating facilities provided by sunlight or onshore or offshore wind are also eligible to be applied by the utility as a customer credit reinvestment offset as provided in subdivision A 8 of § 56-585.1. Costs associated with the purchase of energy, capacity, or environmental attributes from facilities owned by the persons other than the utility required by this subsection shall be recovered by the utility either through its rates for generation and distribution services or pursuant to § 56-249.6.
5. Each Phase I Utility shall petition the Commission for necessary approvals to construct, acquire, or enter into agreements to purchase the energy, capacity, and environmental attributes of 600 megawatts of generating capacity using energy derived from sunlight or onshore wind. a. By December 31, 2023, each Phase I Utility shall petition the Commission for necessary approvals to construct, acquire, or enter into agreements to purchase the energy, capacity, and environmental attributes of at least 200 megawatts of generating capacity located in the Commonwealth using energy derived from sunlight or onshore wind, and 35 percent of such generating capacity procured shall be from the purchase of energy, capacity, and environmental attributes from solar or onshore wind facilities owned by persons other than the utility, with the remainder, in the aggregate, being from construction or acquisition by such Phase I Utility. b. By December 31, 2027, each Phase I Utility shall petition the Commission for necessary approvals to construct, acquire, or enter into agreements to purchase the energy, capacity, and environmental attributes of at least 200 megawatts of additional generating capacity located in the Commonwealth using energy derived from sunlight or onshore wind, and 35 percent of such generating capacity procured shall be from the purchase of energy, capacity, and environmental attributes from solar or onshore wind facilities owned by persons other than the utility, with the remainder, in the aggregate, being from construction or acquisition by such Phase I Utility. c. By December 31, 2030, each Phase I Utility shall petition the Commission for necessary approvals to construct, acquire, or enter into agreements to purchase the energy, capacity, and environmental attributes of at least 200 megawatts of additional generating capacity located in the Commonwealth using energy derived from sunlight or onshore wind, and 35 percent of such generating capacity procured shall be from the purchase of energy, capacity, and environmental attributes from solar or onshore wind facilities owned by persons other than the utility, with the remainder, in the aggregate, being from construction or acquisition by such Phase I Utility. d. Nothing in this subdivision 1 shall prohibit such Phase I Utility from constructing, acquiring, or entering into agreements to purchase the energy, capacity, and environmental attributes of more than 600 megawatts of generating capacity located in the Commonwealth using energy derived from sunlight or onshore wind, provided the utility receives approval from the Commission pursuant to §§ 56-580 and 56-585.1.
6. By December 31, 2035, each Phase II Utility shall petition the Commission for necessary approvals to (i) construct, acquire, or enter into agreements to purchase the energy, capacity, and environmental attributes of 16,100 megawatts of generating capacity located in the Commonwealth using energy derived from sunlight or onshore wind, which shall include 1,100 megawatts of solar generation of a nameplate capacity not to exceed three megawatts per individual project and 35 percent of such generating capacity procured shall be from the purchase of energy, capacity, and environmental attributes from solar facilities owned by persons other than a utility, including utility affiliates and deregulated affiliates and (ii) pursuant to § 56-585.1:11, construct or purchase one or more offshore wind generation facilities located off the Commonwealth's Atlantic shoreline or in federal waters and interconnected directly into the Commonwealth with an aggregate capacity of up to 5,200 megawatts. At least 200 megawatts of the 16,100 megawatts shall be placed on previously developed project sites. a. By December 31, 2024, each Phase II Utility shall petition the Commission for necessary approvals to construct, acquire, or enter into agreements to purchase the energy, capacity, and environmental attributes of at least 3,000 megawatts of generating capacity located in the Commonwealth using energy derived from sunlight or onshore wind, and 35 percent of such generating capacity procured shall be from the purchase of energy, capacity, and environmental attributes from solar or onshore wind facilities owned by persons other than the utility, with the remainder, in the aggregate, being from construction or acquisition by such Phase II Utility. b. By December 31, 2027, each Phase II Utility shall petition the Commission for necessary approvals to construct, acquire, or enter into agreements to purchase the energy, capacity, and environmental attributes of at least 3,000 megawatts of additional generating capacity located in the Commonwealth using energy derived from sunlight or onshore wind, and 35 percent of such generating capacity procured shall be from the purchase of energy, capacity, and environmental attributes from solar or onshore wind facilities owned by persons other than the utility, with the remainder, in the aggregate, being from construction or acquisition by such Phase II Utility. c. By December 31, 2030, each Phase II Utility shall petition the Commission for necessary approvals to construct, acquire, or enter into agreements to purchase the energy, capacity, and environmental attributes of at least 4,000 megawatts of additional generating capacity located in the Commonwealth using energy derived from sunlight or onshore wind, and 35 percent of such generating capacity procured shall be from the purchase of energy, capacity, and environmental attributes from solar or onshore wind facilities owned by persons other than the utility, with the remainder, in the aggregate, being from construction or acquisition by such Phase II Utility. d. By December 31, 2035, each Phase II Utility shall petition the Commission for necessary approvals to construct, acquire, or enter into agreements to purchase the energy, capacity, and environmental attributes of at least 6,100 megawatts of additional generating capacity located in the Commonwealth using energy derived from sunlight or onshore wind, and 35 percent of such generating capacity procured shall be from the purchase of energy, capacity, and environmental attributes from solar or onshore wind facilities owned by persons other than the utility, with the remainder, in the aggregate, being from construction or acquisition by such Phase II Utility. e. Nothing in this subdivision 2 shall prohibit such Phase II Utility from constructing, acquiring, or entering into agreements to purchase the energy, capacity, and environmental attributes of more than 16,100 megawatts of generating capacity located in the Commonwealth using energy derived from sunlight or onshore wind, provided the utility receives approval from the Commission pursuant to §§ 56-580 and 56-585.1.
7. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a utility from petitioning the Commission to construct or acquire zero-carbon electricity or from entering into contracts to procure the energy, capacity, and environmental attributes of zero-carbon electricity generating resources in excess of the requirements in subsection B. The Commission shall determine whether to approve such petitions on a stand-alone basis pursuant to §§ 56-580 and 56-585.1, provided that the Commission's review shall also consider whether the proposed generating capacity (i) is necessary to meet the utility's native load, (ii) is likely to lower customer fuel costs, (iii) will provide economic development opportunities in the Commonwealth, and (iv) serves a need that cannot be more affordably met with demand-side or energy storage resources. Each Phase I and Phase II Utility shall, at least once every year, conduct a request for proposals for new solar and wind resources. Such requests shall quantify and describe the utility's need for energy, capacity, or renewable energy certificates. The requests for proposals shall be publicly announced and made available for public review on the utility's website at least 45 days prior to the closing of such request for proposals. The requests for proposals shall provide, at a minimum, the following information: (a) the size, type, and timing of resources for which the utility anticipates contracting; (b) any minimum thresholds that must be met by respondents; (c) major assumptions to be used by the utility in the bid evaluation process, including environmental emission standards; (d) detailed instructions for preparing bids so that bids can be evaluated on a consistent basis; (e) the preferred general location of additional capacity; and (f) specific information concerning the factors involved in determining the price and non-price criteria used for selecting winning bids. A utility may evaluate responses to requests for proposals based on any criteria that it deems reasonable but shall at a minimum consider the following in its selection process: (1) the status of a particular project's development; (2) the age of existing generation facilities; (3) the demonstrated financial viability of a project and the developer; (4) a developer's prior experience in the field; (5) the location and effect on the transmission grid of a generation facility; (6) benefits to the Commonwealth that are associated with particular projects, including regional economic development and the use of goods and services from Virginia businesses; and (7) the environmental impacts of particular resources, including impacts on air quality within the Commonwealth and the carbon intensity of the utility's generation portfolio.
8. In connection with the requirements of this subsection, each Phase I and Phase II Utility shall, commencing in 2020 and concluding in 2035, submit annually a plan and petition for approval for the development of new solar and onshore wind generation capacity. Such plan shall reflect, in the aggregate and over its duration, the requirements of subsection D concerning the allocation percentages for construction or purchase of such capacity. Such petition shall contain any request for approval to construct such facilities pursuant to subsection D of § 56-580 and a request for approval or update of a rate adjustment clause pursuant to subdivision A 6 of § 56-585.1 to recover the costs of such facilities. Such plan shall also include the utility's plan to meet the energy storage project targets of subsection E, including the goal of installing at least 10 percent of such energy storage projects behind the meter. In determining whether to approve the utility's plan and any associated petition requests, the Commission shall determine whether they are reasonable and prudent and shall give due consideration to (i) the RPS and carbon dioxide reduction requirements in this section; (ii) the promotion of new renewable generation and energy storage resources within the Commonwealth, and associated economic development; and (iii) fuel savings projected to be achieved by the plan. Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, the Commission's final order regarding any such petition and associated requests shall be entered by the Commission not more than six months after the date of the filing of such petition.
9. If, in any year, a Phase I or Phase II Utility is unable to meet the compliance obligation of the RPS Program requirements or if the cost of RECs necessary to comply with RPS Program requirements exceeds $45 per megawatt hour, such supplier shall be obligated to make a deficiency payment equal to $45 for each megawatt-hour shortfall for the year of noncompliance, except that the deficiency payment for any shortfall in procuring RECs for solar, wind, or anaerobic digesters located in the Commonwealth shall be $75 per megawatts hour for resources one megawatt and lower. The amount of any deficiency payment shall increase by one percent annually after 2021. A Phase I or Phase II Utility shall be entitled to recover the costs of such payments as a cost of compliance with the requirements of this subsection pursuant to subdivision A 5 d of § 56-585.1. All proceeds from the deficiency payments shall be deposited into an interest-bearing account administered by the Department of Energy. In administering this account, the Department of Energy shall manage the account as follows: (i) 50 percent of total revenue shall be directed to job training programs in historically economically disadvantaged communities; (ii) 16 percent of total revenue shall be directed to energy efficiency measures for public facilities; (iii) 30 percent of total revenue shall be directed to renewable energy programs located in historically economically disadvantaged communities; and (iv) four percent of total revenue shall be directed to administrative costs. For any project constructed pursuant to this subsection or subsection E, a utility shall, subject to a competitive procurement process, procure equipment from a Virginia-based or United States-based manufacturer using materials or product components made in Virginia or the United States, if reasonably available and competitively priced. E. To enhance reliability and performance of the utility's generation and distribution system, each Phase I and Phase II Utility shall petition the Commission for necessary approvals to construct or acquire new, utility-owned energy storage resources.
10. By December 31, 2035, each Phase I Utility shall petition the Commission for necessary approvals to construct or acquire 400 megawatts of energy storage capacity. Nothing in this subdivision shall prohibit a Phase I Utility from constructing or acquiring more than 400 megawatts of energy storage, provided that the utility receives approval from the Commission pursuant to §§ 56-580 and 56-585.1.
11. By December 31, 2035, each Phase II Utility shall petition the Commission for necessary approvals to construct or acquire 2,700 megawatts of energy storage capacity. Nothing in this subdivision shall prohibit a Phase II Utility from constructing or acquiring more than 2,700 megawatts of energy storage, provided that the utility receives approval from the Commission pursuant to §§ 56-580 and 56-585.1.
12. No single energy storage project shall exceed 500 megawatts in size, except that a Phase II Utility may procure a single energy storage project up to 800 megawatts.
13. All energy storage projects procured pursuant to this subsection shall meet the competitive procurement protocols established in subdivision D 3.
14. After July 1, 2020, at least 35 percent of the energy storage facilities placed into service shall be (i) purchased by the public utility from a party other than the public utility or (ii) owned by a party other than a public utility, with the capacity from such facilities sold to the public utility. By January 1, 2021, the Commission shall adopt regulations to achieve the deployment of energy storage for the Commonwealth required in subdivisions 1 and 2, including regulations that set interim targets and update existing utility planning and procurement rules. The regulations shall include programs and mechanisms to deploy energy storage, including competitive solicitations, behind-the-meter incentives, non-wires alternatives programs, and peak demand reduction programs. F. All costs incurred by a Phase I or Phase II Utility related to compliance with the requirements of this section or pursuant to § 56-585.1:11, including (i) costs of generation facilities powered by sunlight or onshore or offshore wind, or energy storage facilities, that are constructed or acquired by a Phase I or Phase II Utility after July 1, 2020, (ii) costs of capacity, energy, or environmental attributes from generation facilities powered by sunlight or onshore or offshore wind, or falling water, or energy storage facilities purchased by the utility from persons other than the utility through agreements after July 1, 2020, and (iii) all other costs of compliance, including costs associated with the purchase of RECs associated with RPS Program requirements pursuant to this section shall be recovered from all retail customers in the service territory of a Phase I or Phase II Utility as a non-bypassable charge, irrespective of the generation supplier of such customer, except (a) as provided in subsection G for an accelerated renewable energy buyer or (b) as provided in subdivision C 3 of § 56-585.1:11, with respect to the costs of an offshore wind generation facility, for a PIPP eligible utility customer or an advanced clean energy buyer or qualifying large general service customer, as those terms are defined in § 56-585.1:11. If a Phase I or Phase II Utility serves customers in more than one jurisdiction, such utility shall recover all of the costs of compliance with the RPS Program requirements from its Virginia customers through the applicable cost recovery mechanism, and all associated energy, capacity, and environmental attributes shall be assigned to Virginia to the extent that such costs are requested but not recovered from any system customers outside the Commonwealth. By September 1, 2020, the Commission shall direct the initiation of a proceeding for each Phase I and Phase II Utility to review and determine the amount of such costs, net of benefits, that should be allocated to retail customers within the utility's service territory which have elected to receive electric supply service from a supplier of electric energy other than the utility, and shall direct that tariff provisions be implemented to recover those costs from such customers beginning no later than January 1, 2021. Thereafter, such charges and tariff provisions shall be updated and trued up by the utility on an annual basis, subject to continuing review and approval by the Commission. G. 1. An accelerated renewable energy buyer may contract with a Phase I or Phase II Utility, or a person other than a Phase I or Phase II Utility, to obtain (i) RECs from RPS eligible resources or (ii) bundled capacity, energy, and RECs from solar or, wind, or zero-carbon electricity generation resources located within the PJM region and initially placed in commercial operation after January 1, 2015, including any contract with a utility for such generation resources that does not allocate the cost of such resources to or recover the cost of such resources from any other customers of the utility that have not voluntarily agreed to pay such cost. Such an accelerated renewable energy buyer may offset all or a portion of its electric load for purposes of RPS compliance through such arrangements. An accelerated renewable energy buyer shall be exempt from the assignment of non-bypassable RPS compliance costs pursuant to subsection F, with the exception of the costs of an offshore wind generating facility pursuant to § 56-585.1:11, based on the amount of RECs obtained pursuant to this subsection in proportion to the customer's total electric energy consumption, on an annual basis. An accelerated renewable energy buyer may also contract with a Phase I or Phase II Utility, or a person other than a Phase I or Phase II Utility, to obtain capacity from energy storage facilities located within the network service area of the utility pursuant to this subsection, provided that the costs of such resources are not recovered from any of the utility's customers who have not voluntarily agreed to pay for such costs. Such accelerated renewable energy buyer shall be exempt from the assignment of non-bypassable RPS Program compliance costs specifically associated with energy storage facilities pursuant to this subsection in proportion to the customer's total capacity demand on an annual basis. An accelerated renewable energy buyer obtaining RECs only shall not be exempt from costs related to procurement of new solar or onshore wind generation capacity, energy, or environmental attributes, or energy storage facilities, by the utility pursuant to subsections D and E, however, an accelerated renewable energy buyer that is a customer of a Phase II Utility and was subscribed, as of March 1, 2020, to a voluntary companion experimental tariff offering of the utility for the purchase of renewable attributes from renewable energy facilities that requires a renewable facilities agreement and the purchase of a minimum of 2,000 renewable attributes annually, shall be exempt from allocation of the net costs related to procurement of new solar or onshore wind generation capacity, energy, or environmental attributes, or energy storage facilities, by the utility pursuant to subsections D and E, based on the amount of RECs associated with the customer's renewable facilities agreements associated with such tariff offering as of that date in proportion to the customer's total electric energy consumption, on an annual basis. To the extent that an accelerated renewable energy buyer contracts for the capacity of new solar or wind generation resources or energy storage facilities pursuant to this subsection, the aggregate amount of such nameplate capacity shall be offset from the utility's procurement requirements pursuant to subsection D. All RECs associated with contracts entered into by an accelerated renewable energy buyer with the utility, or a person other than the utility, for an RPS Program shall not be credited to the utility's compliance with its RPS requirements, and the calculation of the utility's RPS Program requirements shall not include the electric load covered by customers certified as accelerated renewable energy buyers.
15. Each Phase I or Phase II Utility shall certify, and verify as necessary, to the Commission that the accelerated renewable energy buyer has satisfied the exemption requirements of this subsection for each year, or an accelerated renewable energy buyer may choose to certify satisfaction of this exemption by reporting to the Commission individually. The Commission may promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this subsection.
16. Provided that no incremental costs associated with any contract between a Phase I or Phase II Utility and an accelerated renewable energy buyer is allocated to or recovered from any other customer of the utility, any such contract with an accelerated renewable energy buyer that is a jurisdictional customer of the utility shall not be deemed a special rate or contract requiring Commission approval pursuant to § 56-235.2.
17. The State Corporation Commission shall ensure that any distribution and transmission costs associated with new energy generation resources procured pursuant to subsection G of § 56-585.5 of the Code of Virginia, as amended by this act, are justly and reasonably allocated. H. No customer of a Phase II Utility with a peak demand in excess of 100 megawatts in 2019 that elected pursuant to subdivision A 3 of § 56-577 to purchase electric energy from a competitive service provider prior to April 1, 2019, shall be allocated any non-bypassable charges pursuant to subsection F for such period that the customer is not purchasing electric energy from the utility, and such customer's electric load shall not be included in the utility's RPS Program requirements. No customer of a Phase I Utility that elected pursuant to subdivision A 3 of § 56-577 to purchase electric energy from a competitive service provider prior to February 1, 2019, shall be allocated any non-bypassable charges pursuant to subsection F for such period that the customer is not purchasing electric energy from the utility, and such customer's electric load shall not be included in the utility's RPS Program requirements. I. In any petition by a Phase I or Phase II Utility for a certificate of public convenience and necessity to construct and operate an electrical generating facility that generates electric energy derived from sunlight submitted pursuant to § 56-580, such utility shall demonstrate that the proposed facility was subject to competitive procurement or solicitation as set forth in subdivision D 3. J. Notwithstanding any contrary provision of law, for the purposes of this section, any falling water generation facility located in the Commonwealth and commencing commercial operations prior to July 1, 2024, shall be considered a renewable energy portfolio standard (RPS) eligible source. K. Nothing in this section shall apply to any entity organized under Chapter 9.1 (§ 56-231.15 et seq.). L. The Commission shall adopt such rules and regulations as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this section, including a requirement that participants verify whether the RPS Program requirements are met in accordance with this section. 2020, cc. 1193, 1194; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 140, 328, 532; 2023, cc. 732, 803, 804; 2024, cc. 596, 597; 2025, cc. 707, 708, 713, 714.

Va. Code § 56-589.1

§ 56-589.1. Energy generation by public school buildings and facilities.A. A school board of a school division located in a locality that is a non-jurisdictional customer of a utility pursuant to § 56-234 and that owns or operates a public school building or facility that has been modernized consistent with Article 3 (§ 22.1-141.1 et seq.) of Chapter 9 of Title 22.1 and generates energy derived from sunlight and the solar generating facility is interconnected pursuant to § 56-594 may enter into a contract to generate such energy on terms and conditions negotiated between the customer and the utility. B. The solar-powered renewable energy generation facilities associated with a public school building or facility owned or operated by a school board shall be located on the same real property upon which the public school buildings and facilities are located. The solar facilities shall be located on the rooftops of the public school buildings and facilities, however up to 20 percent of the capacity may come from ground mounted solar facilities. C. Neither jurisdictional customers nor non-jurisdictional customers that do not participate in a school modernization project consistent with Article 3 (§ 22.1-141.1 et seq.) of Chapter 9 of Title 22.1 shall bear any costs associated with such school modernization project by a participating non-jurisdictional customer. 2019, cc. 818, 819.

Va. Code § 56-594

§ 56-594. Net energy metering provisions.A. The Commission shall establish by regulation a program that affords eligible customer-generators the opportunity to participate in net energy metering, and a program, to begin no later than July 1, 2014, for customers of investor-owned utilities and to begin no later than July 1, 2015, and to end July 1, 2019, for customers of electric cooperatives as provided in subsection G, to afford eligible agricultural customer-generators the opportunity to participate in net energy metering. The regulations may include, but need not be limited to, requirements for (i) retail sellers; (ii) owners or operators of distribution or transmission facilities; (iii) providers of default service; (iv) eligible customer-generators; (v) eligible agricultural customer-generators; or (vi) any combination of the foregoing, as the Commission determines will facilitate the provision of net energy metering, provided that the Commission determines that such requirements do not adversely affect the public interest. On and after July 1, 2017, small agricultural generators or eligible agricultural customer-generators may elect to interconnect pursuant to the provisions of this section or as small agricultural generators pursuant to § 56-594.2, but not both. Existing eligible agricultural customer-generators may elect to become small agricultural generators, but may not revert to being eligible agricultural customer-generators after such election. On and after July 1, 2019, interconnection of eligible agricultural customer-generators shall cease for electric cooperatives only, and such facilities shall interconnect solely as small agricultural generators. For electric cooperatives, eligible agricultural customer-generators whose renewable energy generating facilities were interconnected before July 1, 2019, may continue to participate in net energy metering pursuant to this section for a period not to exceed 25 years from the date of their renewable energy generating facility's original interconnection. B. For the purpose of this section: "Eligible agricultural customer-generator" means a customer that operates a renewable energy generating facility as part of an agricultural business, which generating facility (i) uses as its sole energy source solar power, wind power, or aerobic or anaerobic digester gas, (ii) does not have an aggregate generation capacity of more than 500 kilowatts, (iii) is located on land owned or controlled by the agricultural business, (iv) is connected to the customer's wiring on the customer's side of its interconnection with the distributor; (v) is interconnected and operated in parallel with an electric company's transmission and distribution facilities, and (vi) is used primarily to provide energy to metered accounts of the agricultural business. An eligible agricultural customer-generator may be served by multiple meters serving the eligible agricultural customer-generator that are located at the same or adjacent sites, such that the eligible agricultural customer-generator may aggregate in a single account the electricity consumption and generation measured by the meters, provided that the same utility serves all such meters. The aggregated load shall be served under the appropriate tariff. "Eligible customer-generator" means a customer that owns and operates, or contracts with other persons to own, operate, or both, an electrical generating facility, including any additions or enhancements such as battery storage or a smart inverter, that (i) has a capacity of not more than 25 kilowatts for residential customers and not more than three megawatts for nonresidential customers; (ii) uses as its total source of fuel renewable energy, as defined in § 56-576; (iii) is located on land owned or leased by the customer and is connected to the customer's wiring on the customer's side of its interconnection with the distributor; (iv) is interconnected and operated in parallel with an electric company's transmission and distribution facilities; and (v) is intended primarily to offset all or part of the customer's own electricity requirements. No contract, lease, or arrangement by which a third party owns, maintains, or operates an electrical generating facility on an eligible customer-generator's property shall constitute the sale of electricity or cause the customer-generator or the third party to be considered an electric utility by virtue of participating in net energy metering. In addition to the electrical generating facility size limitations in clause (i), the capacity of any generating facility installed under this section between July 1, 2015, and July 1, 2020, shall not exceed the expected annual energy consumption based on the previous 12 months of billing history or an annualized calculation of billing history if 12 months of billing history is not available. In addition to the electrical generating facility size limitation in clause (i), in the certificated service territory of a Phase I Utility, the capacity of any generating facility installed under this section after July 1, 2020, shall not exceed 100 percent of the expected annual energy consumption based on the previous 12 months of billing history or an annualized calculation of billing history if 12 months of billing history is not available, and in the certificated service territory of a Phase II Utility, the capacity of any generating facility installed under this section after July 1, 2020, shall not exceed 150 percent of the expected annual energy consumption based on the previous 12 months of billing history or an annualized calculation of billing history if 12 months of billing history is not available. "Net energy metering" means measuring the difference, over the net metering period, between (i) electricity supplied to an eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator from the electric grid and (ii) the electricity generated and fed back to the electric grid by the eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator. "Net metering period" means the 12-month period following the date of final interconnection of the eligible customer-generator's or eligible agricultural customer-generator's system with an electric service provider, and each 12-month period thereafter. "Small agricultural generator" has the same meaning that is ascribed to that term in § 56-594.2. C. The Commission's regulations shall ensure that (i) the metering equipment installed for net metering shall be capable of measuring the flow of electricity in two directions and (ii) any eligible customer-generator seeking to participate in net energy metering shall notify its supplier and receive approval to interconnect prior to installation of an electrical generating facility. The electric distribution company shall have 30 days from the date of notification for residential facilities, and 60 days from the date of notification for nonresidential facilities, to determine whether the interconnection requirements have been met. Such regulations shall allocate fairly the cost of such equipment and any necessary interconnection. An eligible customer-generator's electrical generating system, and each electrical generating system of an eligible agricultural customer-generator, shall meet all applicable safety and performance standards established by the National Electrical Code, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and accredited testing laboratories such as Underwriters Laboratories. Beyond the requirements set forth in this section and to ensure public safety, power quality, and reliability of the supplier's electric distribution system, an eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator whose electrical generating system meets those standards and rules shall bear all reasonable costs of equipment required for the interconnection to the supplier's electric distribution system, including costs, if any, to (a) install additional controls and (b) perform or pay for additional tests. No eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator shall be required to provide proof of liability insurance or to purchase additional liability insurance as a condition of interconnection. D. The Commission shall establish minimum requirements for contracts to be entered into by the parties to net metering arrangements. Such requirements shall protect the eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator against discrimination by virtue of its status as an eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator, and permit customers that are served on time-of-use tariffs that have electricity supply demand charges contained within the electricity supply portion of the time-of-use tariffs to participate as an eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator. Notwithstanding the cost allocation provisions of subsection C, eligible customer-generators or eligible agricultural customer-generators served on demand charge-based time-of-use tariffs shall bear the incremental metering costs required to net meter such customers. E. If electricity generated by an eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator over the net metering period exceeds the electricity consumed by the eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator, the customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator shall be compensated for the excess electricity if the entity contracting to receive such electric energy and the eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator enter into a power purchase agreement for such excess electricity. Upon the written request of the eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator, the supplier that serves the eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator shall enter into a power purchase agreement with the requesting eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator that is consistent with the minimum requirements for contracts established by the Commission pursuant to subsection D. The power purchase agreement shall obligate the supplier to purchase such excess electricity at the rate that is provided for such purchases in a net metering standard contract or tariff approved by the Commission, unless the parties agree to a higher rate. The eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator owns any renewable energy certificates associated with its electrical generating facility; however, at the time that the eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator enters into a power purchase agreement with its supplier, the eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator shall have a one-time option to sell the renewable energy certificates associated with such electrical generating facility to its supplier and be compensated at an amount that is established by the Commission to reflect the value of such renewable energy certificates. Nothing in this section shall prevent the eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator and the supplier from voluntarily entering into an agreement for the sale and purchase of excess electricity or renewable energy certificates at mutually-agreed upon prices if the eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator does not exercise its option to sell its renewable energy certificates to its supplier at Commission-approved prices at the time that the eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator enters into a power purchase agreement with its supplier. All costs incurred by the supplier to purchase excess electricity and renewable energy certificates from eligible customer-generators or eligible agricultural customer-generators shall be recoverable through its Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) rate adjustment clause, if the supplier has a Commission-approved RPS plan. If not, then all costs shall be recoverable through the supplier's fuel adjustment clause. For purposes of this section, "all costs" shall be defined as the rates paid to the eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator for the purchase of excess electricity and renewable energy certificates and any administrative costs incurred to manage the eligible customer-generator's or eligible agricultural customer-generator's power purchase arrangements. The net metering standard contract or tariff shall be available to eligible customer-generators or eligible agricultural customer-generators on a first-come, first-served basis in each electric distribution company's Virginia service area until the rated generating capacity owned and operated by eligible customer-generators, eligible agricultural customer-generators, and small agricultural generators in the Commonwealth reaches six percent, in the aggregate, five percent of which is available to all customers and one percent of which is available only to low-income utility customers of each electric distribution company's adjusted Virginia peak-load forecast for the previous year, and shall require the supplier to pay the eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator for such excess electricity in a timely manner at a rate to be established by the Commission. On and after the earlier of (i) 2024 for a Phase I Utility or 2025 for a Phase II Utility or (ii) when the aggregate rated generating capacity owned and operated by eligible customer-generators, eligible agricultural customer-generators, and small agricultural generators in the Commonwealth reaches three percent of a Phase I or Phase II Utility's adjusted Virginia peak-load forecast for the previous year, the Commission shall conduct a net energy metering proceeding. In any net energy metering proceeding, the Commission shall, after notice and opportunity for hearing, evaluate and establish (a) an amount customers shall pay on their utility bills each month for the costs of using the utility's infrastructure; (b) an amount the utility shall pay to appropriately compensate the customer, as determined by the Commission, for the total benefits such facilities provide; (c) the direct and indirect economic impact of net metering to the Commonwealth; and (d) any other information the Commission deems relevant. The Commission shall establish an appropriate rate structure related thereto, which shall govern compensation related to all eligible customer-generators, eligible agricultural customer-generators, and small agricultural generators, except low-income utility customers, that interconnect after the effective date established in the Commission's final order. Nothing in the Commission's final order shall affect any eligible customer-generators, eligible agricultural customer-generators, and small agricultural generators who interconnect before the effective date of such final order. As part of the net energy metering proceeding, the Commission shall evaluate the six percent aggregate net metering cap and may, if appropriate, raise or remove such cap. The Commission shall enter its final order in such a proceeding no later than 12 months after it commences such proceeding, and such final order shall establish a date by which the new terms and conditions shall apply for interconnection and shall also provide that, if the terms and conditions of compensation in the final order differ from the terms and conditions available to customers before the proceeding, low-income utility customers may interconnect under whichever terms are most favorable to them. F. Any residential eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator, in the service territory of a Phase II Utility who owns and operates, or contracts with other persons to own, operate, or both, an electrical generating facility with a capacity that exceeds 15 kilowatts shall pay to its supplier, in addition to any other charges authorized by law, a monthly standby charge. The amount of the standby charge and the terms and conditions under which it is assessed shall be in accordance with a methodology developed by the supplier and approved by the Commission. The Commission shall approve a supplier's proposed standby charge methodology if it finds that the standby charges collected from all such eligible customer-generators and eligible agricultural customer-generators allow the supplier to recover only the portion of the supplier's infrastructure costs that are properly associated with serving such eligible customer-generators or eligible agricultural customer-generators. Such an eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator shall not be liable for a standby charge until the date specified in an order of the Commission approving its supplier's methodology. For customers of all other investor-owned utilities, on and after July 1, 2020, standby charges are prohibited for any residential eligible customer-generator or agricultural customer-generator. G. On and after the later of July 1, 2019, or the effective date of regulations that the Commission is required to adopt pursuant to § 56-594.01, (i) net energy metering in the service territory of each electric cooperative shall be conducted as provided in a program implemented pursuant to § 56-594.01 and (ii) the provisions of this section shall not apply to net energy metering in the service territory of an electric cooperative except as provided in § 56-594.01. H. The Commission may adopt such rules or establish such guidelines as may be necessary for its general administration of this section. I. When the Commission conducts a net energy metering proceeding, it shall: 1. Investigate and determine the costs and benefits of the current net energy metering program; 2. Establish an appropriate netting measurement interval for a successor tariff that is just and reasonable in light of the costs and benefits of the net metering program in aggregate, and applicable to new requests for net energy metering service; 3. Determine a specific avoided cost for customer-generators, the different type of customer-generator technologies where the Commission deems it appropriate, and establish the methodology for determining the compensation rate for any net excess generation determined according to the applicable net measurement interval for any new tariff; and 4. Make all reasonable efforts to ensure that the net energy metering program does not result in unreasonable cost-shifting to nonparticipating electric utility customers. J. In evaluating the costs and benefits of the net energy metering program, the Commission shall consider: 1. The aggregate impact of customer-generators on the electric utility's long-run marginal costs of generation, distribution, and transmission; 2. The cost of service implications of customer-generators on other customers within the same class, including an evaluation of whether customer-generators provide an adequate rate of return to the electrical utility compared to the otherwise applicable rate class when, for analytical purposes only, examined as a separate class within a cost of service study; 3. The direct and indirect economic impact of the net energy metering program to the Commonwealth; and 4. Any other information it deems relevant, including environmental and resilience benefits of customer-generator facilities. K. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, § 56-585.1:8, or any other provision of law to the contrary, any locality that is a nonjurisdictional customer of a Phase II Utility, as defined in § 56-585.1:3, and is in Planning District Eight with a population greater than 1 million may (i) install solar-powered or wind-powered electric generation facilities with a rated capacity not exceeding five megawatts, whether the facilities are owned by the locality or owned and operated by a third party pursuant to a contract with the locality, on any locality-owned site within the locality and (ii) credit the electricity generated at any such facility as directed by the governing body of the locality to any one or more of the metered accounts of buildings or other facilities of the locality or the locality's public school division that are located within the locality, without regard to whether the buildings and facilities are located at the same site where the electric generation facility is located or at a site contiguous thereto. The amount of the credit for such electricity to the metered accounts of the locality or its public school division shall be identical, with respect to the rate structure, all retail rate components, and monthly charges, to the amount the locality or public school division would otherwise be charged for such amount of electricity under its contract with the public utility, without the assessment by the public utility of any distribution charges, service charges, or fees in connection with or arising out of such crediting. L. Any eligible customer-generator or eligible agricultural customer-generator may participate in demand response, energy efficiency, or peak reduction from dispatch of onsite battery service, provided that the compensation received is in exchange for a distinct service that is not already compensated by net metering credits for electricity exported to the electric distribution system or compensated by any other utility program or tariff. The Commission shall review and evaluate the continuing need for the imposition of standby or other charges on eligible customer-generators or eligible agricultural customer-generators in any net energy metering proceeding conducted pursuant to subsection E. 1999, c. 411; 2004, c. 827; 2006, c. 470; 2007, cc. 877, 888, 933; 2009, c. 804; 2011, c. 239; 2013, c. 268; 2015, cc. 431, 432; 2017, cc. 565, 581; 2019, cc. 742, 763; 2020, cc. 1187, 1188, 1189, 1193, 1194, 1239; 2024, cc. 783, 827.

Va. Code § 56-594.02

§ 56-594.02. Solar-powered or wind-powered electricity generation; power purchase agreements; pilot programs.A. The Commission shall conduct pilot programs under which a person that owns or operates a solar-powered or wind-powered electricity generation facility located on premises owned or leased by an eligible customer-generator, as defined in § 56-594, shall be permitted to sell the electricity generated from such facility exclusively to such eligible customer-generator under a power purchase agreement used to provide third party financing of the costs of such a renewable generation facility (third party power purchase agreement), subject to the following terms, conditions, and restrictions: 1. Notwithstanding subsection G of § 56-580 or any other provision of law, a pilot program shall be conducted within the certificated service territory of each investor-owned electric utility ("Pilot Utility"); 2. Except as provided in this subdivision, both jurisdictional and nonjurisdictional customers may participate in such pilot programs on a first-come, first-serve basis. The aggregated capacity of all generation facilities that are subject to such third party power purchase agreements at any time during the pilot program shall not exceed 500 megawatts for Virginia jurisdictional customers and 500 megawatts for Virginia nonjurisdictional customers. Such limitation on the aggregated capacity of such facilities shall constitute a portion of the existing limit of six percent of each Pilot Utility's adjusted Virginia peak-load forecast for the previous year that is available to eligible customer-generators pursuant to subsection E of § 56-594. Notwithstanding any provision of this section that incorporates provisions of § 56-594, the seller and the customer shall elect either to (i) enter into their third party power purchase agreement subject to the conditions and provisions of the Pilot Utility's net energy metering program under § 56-594 or (ii) provide that electricity generated from the generation facilities subject to the third party power purchase agreement will not be net metered under § 56-594, provided that an election not to net meter under § 56-594 shall not exempt the third party power purchase agreement and the parties thereto from the requirements of this section that incorporate provisions of § 56-594; 3. A solar-powered or wind-powered generation facility with a capacity of no less than 50 kilowatts and no more than three megawatts shall be eligible for a third party power purchase agreement under a pilot program; however, if the customer under such agreement is a low-income utility customer, as defined in § 56-576, or is an entity with tax-exempt status in accordance with § 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended, then such facility is eligible for the pilot program even if it does not meet the 50 kilowatts minimum size requirement. The maximum generation capacity of three megawatts shall not affect the limits on the capacity of electrical generating capacities of 25 kilowatts for residential customers and three megawatts for nonresidential customers set forth in subsection B of § 56-594, which limitations shall continue to apply to net energy metering generation facilities regardless of whether they are the subject of a third party power purchase agreement under the pilot program; 4. A generation facility that is the subject of a third party power purchase agreement under the pilot program shall serve only one customer, and a third party power purchase agreement shall not serve multiple customers; 5. The customer under a third party power purchase agreement under the pilot program shall be subject to the interconnection and other requirements imposed on eligible customer-generators pursuant to subsection C of § 56-594, including the requirement that the customer bear the reasonable costs, as determined by the Commission, of the items described in clauses (a) and (b) of such subsection; 6. A third party power purchase agreement under the pilot program shall not be valid unless it conforms in all respects to the requirements of the pilot program conducted under the provisions of this section and unless the Commission and the Pilot Utility are provided written notice of the parties' intent to enter into a third party power purchase agreement not less than 30 days prior to the agreement's proposed effective date; and 7. An affiliate of the Pilot Utility shall be permitted to offer and enter into third party power purchase arrangements on the same basis as may any other person that satisfies the requirements of being a seller under a third party power purchase agreement under the pilot program. B. The Commission shall review the pilot program established pursuant to subsection A in 2015 and every two years thereafter during the pilot program. In its review, the Commission shall determine whether the limitations in subdivisions A 2 and 3 should be expanded, reduced, or continued. C. Any third party power purchase agreement that is not entered into pursuant to the pilot program established pursuant to subsection A is prohibited in the Pilot Utility's service territory, unless such third party power purchase agreement is entered into between a licensed supplier and a retail customer pursuant to § 56-577 where such supplier is responsible for serving 100 percent of the load requirements for each retail customer account it serves. D. If the Commission approves a tariff proposed for electric power provided 100 percent from renewable energy that serves 100 percent of the load requirements for each retail customer account it serves under such tariff, hereafter referred to as a "green tariff," such a green tariff shall not be available to any party to a third party power purchase agreement for the account being served by such power purchase agreement, and such an agreement shall remain in effect notwithstanding the approval of the green tariff. E. Nothing in this section shall be construed as (i) rendering any person, by virtue of its selling electric power to an eligible customer-generator under a third party power purchase agreement entered into pursuant to the pilot program established under this section, a public utility or a competitive service provider, (ii) imposing a requirement that such a person meet 100 percent of the load requirements for each retail customer account it serves, or (iii) affecting third party power purchase agreements in effect prior to July 1, 2013. F. Nothing in this section shall abridge any rights of either party to an agreement between a Pilot Utility and a group purchasing organization acting on behalf of Virginia local governments regarding the purchase of electric service. G. The Commission shall, by December 1, 2013, establish guidelines concerning (i) information to be provided in notices required under subdivision A 6 and (ii) procedures for aggregating and posting to the Commission's web site information derived from the aforesaid notices, including total capacity utilized by pilot projects for which notice has been received and capacity remaining available for future pilot projects. In addition, the Commission may adopt such rules or establish such guidelines as may be necessary for its general administration of the pilot program established under this section. 2013, cc. 358, 382; 2017, c. 803; 2020, cc. 1187, 1188, 1189, 1193, 1194, 1239; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 361, 362; 2024, cc. 783, 827.

Va. Code § 56-594.3

§ 56-594.3. Shared solar programs; Phase II Utility.A. As used in this section: "Administrative cost" means the reasonable incremental cost to the investor-owned utility to process subscribers' bills for the program. "Applicable bill credit rate" means the dollar-per-kilowatt-hour rate used to calculate the subscriber's bill credit. "Bill credit" means the monetary value of the electricity, in kilowatt-hours, generated by the shared solar facility allocated to a subscriber to offset that subscriber's electricity bill. "Dual-use agricultural facility" means agricultural production and electricity production from solar photovoltaic panels occurring simultaneously on the same property. "Gross bill" means the amount that a customer would pay to the utility based on the customer's monthly energy consumption before any bill credits are applied. "Incremental cost" means any cost directly caused by the implementation of the shared solar program that would not have occurred absent the implementation of the shared solar program. "Low-income customer" means any person or household whose income is no more than 80 percent of the median income of the locality in which the customer resides. The median income of the locality is determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. "Low-income service organization" means a nonresidential customer of an investor-owned utility whose primary purpose is to serve low-income individuals and households. "Low-income shared solar facility" means a shared solar facility at least 30 percent of the capacity of which is subscribed by low-income customers or low-income service organizations. "Minimum bill" means an amount determined by the Commission under subsection D that a subscriber is required to, at a minimum, pay on the subscriber's utility bill each month after accounting for any bill credits. "Net bill" means the resulting amount a customer must pay the utility after deducting the bill credit from the customer's monthly gross bill. "Phase II Utility" has the same meaning as provided in subdivision A 1 of § 56-585.1. "Shared solar facility" means a facility that: 1. Generates electricity by means of a solar photovoltaic device with a nameplate capacity rating that does not exceed 5,000 kilowatts of alternating current; 2. Is interconnected with a Phase II Utility's distribution system within the Commonwealth; 3. Has at least three subscribers; 4. Has at least 40 percent of its capacity subscribed by customers with subscriptions of 25 kilowatts or less; and 5. Is located on a single parcel of land. "Shared solar program" or "program" means the program created through the adoption of rules to allow for the development of shared solar facilities. "Subscriber" means a retail customer of a utility that (i) owns one or more subscriptions of a shared solar facility that is interconnected with the utility and (ii) receives service in the service territory of the same utility in whose service territory the shared solar facility is interconnected. "Subscriber organization" means any for-profit or nonprofit entity that owns or operates one or more shared solar facilities. A subscriber organization shall not be considered a utility solely as a result of its ownership or operation of a shared solar facility. A subscriber organization licensed with the Commission shall be eligible to own or operate shared solar facilities in more than one investor-owned utility service territory. "Subscribed" means, in relation to a subscription, that a subscriber has made initial payments or provided a deposit to the owner of a shared solar facility for such subscription. "Subscription" means a contract or other agreement between a subscriber and the owner of a shared solar facility. A subscription shall be sized such that the estimated bill credits do not exceed the subscriber's average annual bill for the customer account to which the subscription is attributed. "Utility" means a Phase II Utility. B. The Commission shall establish by regulation a program that affords customers of a Phase II Utility the opportunity to participate in shared solar projects. Under its shared solar program, a utility shall provide a bill credit for the proportional output of a shared solar facility attributable to that subscriber. The shared solar program shall be administered as follows: 1. The value of the bill credit for the subscriber shall be calculated by multiplying the subscriber's portion of the kilowatt-hour electricity production from the shared solar facility by the applicable bill credit rate for the subscriber. Any amount of the bill credit that exceeds the subscriber's monthly bill, minus the minimum bill, shall be carried over and applied to the next month's bill. 2. The utility shall provide bill credits to a shared solar facility's subscribers for not less than 25 years from the date the shared solar facility becomes commercially operational. 3. The subscriber organization shall, on a monthly basis and in a standardized electronic format, and pursuant to guidelines established by the Commission, provide to the utility a subscriber list indicating the kilowatt-hours of generation attributable to each of the subscribers participating in a shared solar facility in accordance with the subscriber's portion of the output of the shared solar facility. 4. Subscriber lists may be updated monthly to reflect canceling subscribers and to add new subscribers. The utility shall apply bill credits to subscriber bills within two billing cycles following the cycle during which the energy was generated by the shared solar facility. 5. Each utility shall, on a monthly basis and in a standardized electronic format, provide to the subscriber organization a report indicating the total value of bill credits generated by the shared solar facility in the prior month, as well as the amount of the bill credit applied to each subscriber. 6. A subscriber organization may accumulate bill credits in the event that all of the electricity generated by a shared solar facility is not allocated to subscribers in a given month. On an annual basis and pursuant to guidelines established by the Commission, the subscriber organization shall furnish to the utility allocation instructions for distributing excess bill credits to subscribers. 7. A subscriber organization that registers a shared solar facility in the program within the first 200 megawatts alternating current of awarded capacity shall own all environmental attributes associated with a shared solar facility, including renewable energy certificates. At such subscriber organization's direction, such environmental attributes may be distributed to subscribers, sold to load-serving entities with compliance obligations or other buyers, accumulated, or retired. For a shared solar facility registered in the program after the first 200 megawatts alternating current of awarded capacity, the registering subscriber organization shall transfer renewable energy certificates to a Phase II Utility to be retired for compliance with such Phase II Utility's renewable portfolio standard obligations pursuant to subsection C of § 56-585.5. 8. Projects shall be entitled to receive incentives when they are located on rooftops, brownfields, or landfills, are dual-use agricultural facilities, or meet the definition of another category established by the Department of Energy pursuant to this section. C. Each subscriber shall pay a minimum bill, established pursuant to subsection D, and shall receive an applicable bill credit based on the subscriber's customer class of residential, commercial, or industrial. Each class's applicable credit rate shall be calculated by the Commission annually by dividing revenues to the class by sales, measured in kilowatt-hours, to that class to yield a bill credit rate for the class ($/kWh). D. The Commission shall establish a minimum bill, which shall include the costs of all utility infrastructure and services used to provide electric service and administrative costs of the shared solar program. The Commission may modify the minimum bill over time. In establishing the minimum bill, the Commission shall (i) consider further costs the Commission deems relevant to ensure subscribing customers pay a fair share of the costs of providing electric services and generation sufficient to meet customer needs at all times, (ii) minimize the costs shifted to customers not in a shared solar program, and (iii) calculate the benefits of shared solar to the electric grid and to the Commonwealth and deduct such benefits from other costs. The Commission shall explicitly set forth its findings as to each cost and benefit, or other value used to determine such minimum bill. Low-income customers shall be exempt from the minimum bill. E. The Commission shall approve part one of a shared solar program with an aggregate capacity of 200 megawatts. Upon a determination that at least 90 percent of the megawatts of the aggregate capacity of such program have been subscribed and that project construction is substantially complete, the Commission shall approve up to an additional 150 megawatts of capacity as part two of such program, 75 megawatts of which shall serve no more than 51 percent low-income customers. Subscriber organizations shall be allowed to demonstrate compliance with the low income requirement using either project capacity or project savings methodology. The Commission, in collaboration with the Department of Energy, may adopt mechanisms to ensure low-income customer participation. F. The Commission shall establish by regulation a shared solar program that complies with the provisions of subsections B, C, D, and E by March 1, 2025, and shall require each utility to file any tariffs, agreements, or forms necessary for implementation of the program by December 1, 2025. Any tariffs, agreements, and forms currently in effect at the time of enactment shall remain in effect until such revisions are approved by the Commission. Any rule or utility implementation filings approved by the Commission shall: 1. Reasonably allow for the creation of shared solar facilities; 2. Allow all customer classes to participate in the program; 3. Create a stakeholder working group including low-income community representatives and community solar providers to facilitate low-income customer and low-income service organization participation in the program; 4. Encourage public-private partnerships to further the Commonwealth's clean energy and equity goals, such as state agency and affordable housing provider participation as subscribers of a shared solar program; 5. Not remove a customer from its otherwise applicable customer class in order to participate in a shared solar facility; 6. Reasonably allow for the transferability and portability of subscriptions, including allowing a subscriber to retain a subscription to a shared solar facility if the subscriber moves within the same utility's service territory; 7. Establish standards, fees, and processes for the interconnection of shared solar facilities that allow the utility to recover reasonable interconnection costs for each shared solar facility; 8. Adopt standardized consumer disclosure forms; 9. Allow the utility the opportunity to recover reasonable costs of administering the program; 10. Ensure nondiscriminatory and efficient requirements and utility procedures for interconnecting projects; 11. Address the co-location of two or more shared solar facilities on a single parcel of land and provide guidelines for determining when two or more such facilities are co-located; 12. Include a program implementation schedule; 13. Prohibit credit checks as a means of establishing eligibility for residential customers to become subscribers; 14. Prohibit early termination fees and credit reporting for any low-income customer; 15. Require a customer's affirmative consent by written or electronic signature before providing access to customer billing and usage data to a subscriber organization; 16. Establish customer engagement rules and minimum rules for education, contract reviews, and continued engagement; 17. Require net crediting functionality. Under net crediting, the utility shall include the shared solar subscription fee on the customer's utility bill and provide the customer with a net credit equivalent to the total bill credit value for that generation period minus the shared solar subscription fee as set by the subscriber organization. The net crediting fee shall not exceed one percent of the bill credit value. Net crediting shall be optional for subscriber organizations, and any shared solar subscription fees charged via the net crediting model shall be set to ensure that subscribers do not pay more in subscription fees than they receive in bill credits; and 18. Allow the utility to recover as the cost of purchased power pursuant to § 56-249.6 any difference between the bill credit provided to the subscriber and the cost of energy injected into the grid by the subscriber organization. G. Within 180 days of finalization of the Commission's adoption of regulations for the shared solar program, a utility shall begin crediting subscriber accounts of each shared solar facility interconnected in its service territory, subject to the requirements of this section and regulations adopted thereto. 2020, cc. 1238, 1264; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 532; 2024, cc. 715, 763.

Va. Code § 56-594.4

§ 56-594.4. Shared solar programs; Phase I Utility.A. As used in this section: "Administrative cost" means the reasonable incremental cost to the investor-owned utility to process subscribers' bills for the program. "Applicable bill credit rate" means the dollar-per-kilowatt-hour rate used to calculate the subscriber's bill credit. "Bill credit" means the monetary value of the electricity, in kilowatt-hours, generated by the shared solar facility allocated to a subscriber to offset that subscriber's electricity bill. "Dual-use agricultural facility" means agricultural production and electricity production from solar photovoltaic panels occurring simultaneously on the same property. "Gross bill" means the amount that a customer would pay to the utility based on the customer's monthly energy consumption before any bill credits are applied. "Incremental cost" means any cost directly caused by the implementation of the shared solar program that would not have occurred absent the implementation of the shared solar program. "Minimum bill" means an amount determined by the Commission under subsection D that a subscriber is required to, at a minimum, pay on the subscriber's utility bill each month after accounting for any bill credits. "Net bill" means the resulting amount a customer must pay the utility after deducting the bill credit from the customer's monthly gross bill. "Phase I Utility" has the same meaning as provided in subdivision A 1 of § 56-585.1. "Shared solar facility" means a facility that: 1. Generates electricity by means of a solar photovoltaic device with a nameplate capacity rating that does not exceed 5,000 kilowatts of alternating current; 2. Is interconnected with the distribution system of an investor-owned electric utility within the Commonwealth; 3. Has at least three subscribers; 4. Has at least 40 percent of its capacity subscribed by customers with subscriptions of 25 kilowatts or less; and 5. Is located on a single parcel of land. "Shared solar program" or "program" means the program created through the adoption of rules to allow for the development of shared solar facilities. "Subscriber" means a retail customer of a utility that (i) owns one or more subscriptions of a shared solar facility that is interconnected with the utility and (ii) receives service in the service territory of the same utility in whose service territory the shared solar facility is interconnected. "Subscriber organization" means any for-profit or nonprofit entity that owns or operates one or more shared solar facilities. A subscriber organization shall not be considered a utility solely as a result of its ownership or operation of a shared solar facility. A subscriber organization licensed with the Commission shall be eligible to own or operate shared solar facilities in more than one investor-owned utility service territory. "Subscription" means a contract or other agreement between a subscriber and the owner of a shared solar facility. A subscription shall be sized such that the estimated bill credits do not exceed the subscriber's average annual bill for the customer account to which the subscription is attributed. "Utility" means a Phase I Utility. B. The Commission shall establish by regulation a program that affords customers of a Phase I Utility the opportunity to participate in shared solar projects. Under its shared solar program, a utility shall provide a bill credit for the proportional output of a shared solar facility attributable to that subscriber. The shared solar program shall be administered as follows: 1. The value of the bill credit for the subscriber shall be calculated by multiplying the subscriber's portion of the kilowatt-hour electricity production from the shared solar facility by the applicable bill credit rate for the subscriber. Any amount of the bill credit that exceeds the subscriber's monthly bill, minus the minimum bill, shall be carried over and applied to the next month's bill. 2. The utility shall provide bill credits to a shared solar facility's subscribers for not less than 25 years from the date the shared solar facility becomes commercially operational. 3. The subscriber organization shall, on a monthly basis and in a standardized electronic format, and pursuant to guidelines established by the Commission, provide to the utility a subscriber list indicating the percentage of shared solar capacity attributable to each of the subscribers participating in a shared solar facility in accordance with the subscriber's portion of the output of the shared solar facility. 4. Subscriber lists may be updated monthly to reflect canceling subscribers and to add new subscribers. The utility shall apply bill credits to subscriber bills within two billing cycles following the cycle during which the energy was generated by the shared solar facility. 5. Each utility shall, on a monthly basis and in a standardized electronic format, provide to the subscriber organization a report indicating the total value of bill credits generated by the shared solar facility in the prior month, as well as the amount of the bill credit applied to each subscriber. 6. A subscriber organization may accumulate bill credits in the event that all of the electricity generated by a shared solar facility is not allocated to subscribers in a given month. On an annual basis and pursuant to guidelines established by the Commission, the subscriber organization shall furnish to the utility allocation instructions for distributing excess bill credits to subscribers. 7. Any renewable energy certificates associated with a shared solar facility shall be distributed to a Phase I Utility to be retired for compliance with such Phase I Utility's renewable portfolio standard obligations pursuant to subsection C of § 56-585.5. 8. Projects shall be entitled to receive incentives when they are located on rooftops, brownfields, or landfills, are dual-use agricultural facilities, or meet the definition of another category established by the Department of Energy pursuant to this section. C. Each subscriber shall pay a minimum bill, established pursuant to subsection D, and shall receive an applicable bill credit based on the subscriber's customer class of residential, commercial, or industrial. Each class's applicable credit rate shall be calculated by the Commission annually by dividing revenues to the class by sales, measured in kilowatt-hours, to that class to yield a bill credit rate for the class ($/kWh). D. The Commission shall establish a minimum bill, which shall include the costs of all utility infrastructure and services used to provide electric service and administrative costs of the shared solar program. The Commission may modify the minimum bill over time. In establishing the minimum bill, the Commission shall (i) consider further costs the Commission deems relevant to ensure subscribing customers pay a fair share of the costs of providing electric services, (ii) minimize the costs shifted to customers not in a shared solar program, and (iii) calculate the benefits of shared solar to the electric grid and to the Commonwealth and deduct such benefits from other costs. The Commission shall explicitly set forth its findings as to each cost and benefit, or other value used to determine such minimum bill. E. The Commission shall approve a shared solar program of 50 megawatts or six percent of peak load, whichever is less. F. The Commission shall establish by regulation a shared solar program that complies with the provisions of subsections B, C, D, and E by January 1, 2025, and shall require each utility to file any tariffs, agreements, or forms necessary for implementation of the program by July 1, 2025. Any rule or utility implementation filings approved by the Commission shall: 1. Reasonably allow for the creation of shared solar facilities; 2. Allow all customer classes to participate in the program; 3. Encourage public-private partnerships to further the Commonwealth's clean energy and equity goals, such as state agency and affordable housing provider participation as subscribers of a shared solar program; 4. Not remove a customer from its otherwise applicable customer class in order to participate in a shared solar facility; 5. Reasonably allow for the transferability and portability of subscriptions, including allowing a subscriber to retain a subscription to a shared solar facility if the subscriber moves within the same utility's service territory; 6. Establish standards, fees, and processes for the interconnection of shared solar facilities that allow the utility to recover reasonable interconnection costs for each shared solar facility; 7. Adopt standardized consumer disclosure forms; 8. Allow the utility the opportunity to recover reasonable costs of administering the program; 9. Ensure nondiscriminatory and efficient requirements and utility procedures for interconnecting projects; 10. Allow for the co-location of two or more shared solar facilities on a single parcel of land and provide guidelines for determining when two or more such facilities are co-located; 11. Include a program implementation schedule; 12. Prohibit credit checks as a means of establishing eligibility for residential customers to become subscribers; 13. Require a customer's affirmative consent by written or electronic signature before providing access to customer billing and usage data to a subscriber organization; 14. Establish customer engagement rules and minimum rules for education, contract reviews, and continued engagement; 15. Require net financial savings for low-income customers, as that term is defined in § 56-594.3, of at least 10 percent, relative to the subscription fee throughout the life of the subscription; and 16. Allow the utility to recover as the cost of purchased power pursuant to § 56-249.6 any difference between the bill credit provided to the subscriber and the cost of energy injected into the grid by the subscriber organization. G. Within 180 days of finalization of the Commission's adoption of regulations for the shared solar program, a utility shall begin crediting subscriber accounts of each shared solar facility interconnected in its service territory, subject to the requirements of this section and regulations adopted thereto. 2024, cc. 716, 765.

Va. Code § 56-596.1

§ 56-596.1. New generating facilities utilizing energy derived from sunlight and from wind; report.It is the objective of the General Assembly that the construction and development of new utility-owned and utility-operated generating facilities utilizing energy derived from sunlight and from wind with an aggregate capacity of 5,000 megawatts, including rooftop solar installations with a capacity of not less than 50 kilowatts, and with an aggregate capacity of 50 megawatts, be placed in service on or before July 1, 2028. It is also the objective of the General Assembly that 2,700 megawatts of aggregate energy storage capacity be placed into service on or before July 1, 2030. The Commission shall submit a report and make recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly annually on or before December 1 of each year through December 1, 2028, assessing (i) the aggregate annual new construction and development of new utility-owned and utility-operated generating facilities utilizing energy derived from sunlight, (ii) the integration of utility-owned renewable electric generation resources with the utility's electric distribution grid, (iii) the aggregate additional utility-owned and utility-operated generating facilities utilizing energy derived from sunlight placed in operation since July 1, 2018, (iv) the need for additional generation of electricity utilizing energy derived from sunlight in order to meet the objective of the General Assembly on or before July 1, 2028, and (v) the aggregate annual new construction or purchase of energy storage facilities. The Commission shall submit copies of such annual reports to the Chairman of the House Committee on Labor and Commerce, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor, and the Chairman of the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation. 2018, c. 296; 2020, c. 1190.

Va. Code § 58.1-2606.1

§ 58.1-2606.1. Local taxation for solar photovoltaic projects five megawatts or less.A. Notwithstanding clause (iv) of subsection C of § 58.1-3660, generating equipment of solar photovoltaic projects five megawatts or less shall be taxable by a locality, at a rate determined by such locality, but shall not exceed the real estate rate applicable in that locality, and notwithstanding subsection F of § 58.1-3660, the exemption shall be as follows: 80 percent of the assessed value in the first five years in service after commencement of commercial operation, 70 percent of the assessed value in the second five years in service, and 60 percent of the assessed value for all remaining years in service. B. Notwithstanding clause (iii) of subsection B of § 58.1-2636, solar photovoltaic projects five megawatts or less shall not be exempt from the assessment of a revenue share by ordinance of that locality, as otherwise authorized pursuant to the provisions of § 58.1-2636. If a locality assesses a revenue share on solar photovoltaic projects five megawatts or less pursuant to this subsection, the exemption for such projects, as measured in alternating current (AC) generation capacity, shall, in lieu of the amounts specified in subsection A, be 100 percent of the assessed value. C. Nothing herein shall be construed to authorize local taxation pursuant to this section, § 58.1-2636, or § 58.1-3660 of generating or storage equipment of solar photovoltaic projects that serve the electricity needs of that property upon which such solar facilities are located, as is provided in § 15.2-2288.7. 2022, cc. 492, 493.

Va. Code § 58.1-2636

§ 58.1-2636. Revenue share for solar energy projects and energy storage systems.A. 1. Any locality may by ordinance assess a revenue share of (i) up to $1,400 per megawatt, as measured in alternating current (AC) generation capacity of the nameplate capacity of the facility based on submissions by the facility owner to the interconnecting utility, on any solar photovoltaic (electric energy) project, or (ii) up to $1,400 per megawatt, as measured in alternating current (AC) storage capacity, on any energy storage system. 2. Except as prohibited by subdivision 3, the maximum amount of the revenue share that may be imposed shall be increased on July 1, 2026, and every five years thereafter by 10 percent. 3. The provisions of subdivision 2 shall not apply to solar photovoltaic projects or energy storage systems for which an application has been filed with the locality, as defined by subsection D of § 58.1-3660, and such application has been approved by the locality prior to January 1, 2021. The provisions of subdivision 2 shall apply to all such projects and systems for which an application is approved by the locality on or after January 1, 2021. B. For purposes of this section, "solar photovoltaic (electric energy) project" shall not include any project that is (i) described in § 56-594, 56-594.01, 56-594.02, or 56-594.2; (ii) 20 megawatts or less, as measured in alternating current (AC) generation capacity, for which an initial interconnection request form has been filed with an electric utility or a regional transmission organization on or before December 31, 2018; or (iii) five megawatts or less. 2020, cc. 1224, 1270; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 49, 50, 429. Article 4. Estimated Tax. §§ 58.1-2640 through 58.1-2651. Repealed.Repealed by Acts 2017, c. 680, cl. 1, effective January 1, 2019.

Article 5. Rolling Stock Tax on Railroads, Freight Car Companies and Motor Vehicle Carriers and Property Valuation of Railroads.

Va. Code § 58.1-3660

§ 58.1-3660. Certified pollution control equipment and facilities.A. Certified pollution control equipment and facilities, as defined herein, are hereby declared to be a separate class of property and shall constitute a classification for local taxation separate from other such classification of real or personal property and such property. Certified pollution control equipment and facilities shall be exempt from state and local taxation pursuant to Article X, § 6 (d) of the Constitution of Virginia. B. As used in this section: "Certified pollution control equipment and facilities" means any property, including real or personal property, equipment, facilities, or devices, used primarily for the purpose of abating or preventing pollution of the atmosphere or waters of the Commonwealth and which the state certifying authority or subdivision certifying authority having jurisdiction with respect to such property has certified to the Department of Taxation as having been constructed, reconstructed, erected, or acquired in conformity with the state program or requirements for abatement or control of water or atmospheric pollution or contamination, except that in the case of equipment, facilities, devices, or other property intended for use by any political subdivision in conjunction with the operation of its water, wastewater, stormwater, or solid waste management facilities or systems, including property that may be financed pursuant to Chapter 22 (§ 62.1-224 et seq.) of Title 62.1, the state certifying authority or subdivision certifying authority having jurisdiction with respect to such property shall, upon the request of the political subdivision, make such certification prospectively for property to be constructed, reconstructed, erected, or acquired for such purposes. Such property shall include, but is not limited to, any equipment used to grind, chip, or mulch trees, tree stumps, underbrush, and other vegetative cover for reuse as mulch, compost, landfill gas, synthetic or natural gas recovered from waste or other fuel, and equipment used in collecting, processing, and distributing, or generating electricity from, landfill gas or synthetic or natural gas recovered from waste, whether or not such property has been certified to the Department of Taxation by a state certifying authority or subdivision certifying authority. Such property shall include solar energy equipment, facilities, or devices owned or operated by a business that collect, generate, transfer, or store thermal or electric energy whether or not such property has been certified to the Department of Taxation by a state certifying authority or subdivision certifying authority. Such property shall also include energy storage systems, whether or not such property has been certified to the Department of Taxation by a state certifying authority or subdivision certifying authority. All such property as described in this definition shall not include the land on which such equipment or facilities are located. "Energy storage system" means equipment, facilities, or devices that are capable of absorbing energy, storing it for a period of time, and redelivering that energy after it has been stored. "State certifying authority" means the State Water Control Board or the Virginia Department of Health, for water pollution; the State Air Pollution Control Board, for air pollution; the Department of Energy, for solar energy projects, energy storage systems, and for coal, oil, and gas production, including gas, natural gas, and coalbed methane gas; and the Virginia Waste Management Board, for waste disposal facilities, natural gas recovered from waste facilities, and landfill gas production facilities, and shall include any interstate agency authorized to act in place of a certifying authority of the Commonwealth. "Subdivision certifying authority" means the body of a political subdivision responsible for administering the political subdivision's water, wastewater, stormwater, or solid waste management facilities or systems. A subdivision certifying authority may only certify property pursuant to this section if the property being certified is equipment, facilities, devices, or other property intended for use by the political subdivision in conjunction with the operation of its water, wastewater, stormwater, or solid waste management facilities or systems. If property is certified by a subdivision certifying authority, it shall not be required to be certified by a state certifying authority. C. For solar photovoltaic (electric energy) systems, this exemption applies only to (i) projects equaling 20 megawatts or less, as measured in alternating current (AC) generation capacity, for which an initial interconnection request form has been filed with an electric utility or a regional transmission organization on or before December 31, 2018; (ii) projects equaling 20 megawatts or less, as measured in alternating current (AC) generation capacity, that serve any of the public institutions of higher education listed in § 23.1-100 or any private college as defined in § 23.1-105; (iii) 80 percent of the assessed value of projects for which an initial interconnection request form has been filed with an electric utility or a regional transmission organization (a) between January 1, 2015, and June 30, 2018, for projects greater than 20 megawatts or (b) on or after July 1, 2018, for projects greater than 20 megawatts and less than 150 megawatts, as measured in alternating current (AC) generation capacity, and that are first in service on or after January 1, 2017; (iv) projects equaling five megawatts or less, as measured in alternating current (AC) generation capacity, for which an initial interconnection request form has been filed with an electric utility or a regional transmission organization on or after January 1, 2019; and (v) 80 percent of the assessed value of all other projects equaling more than five megawatts and less than 150 megawatts, as measured in alternating current (AC) generation capacity for which an initial interconnection request form has been filed with an electric utility or a regional transmission organization on or after January 1, 2019. D. The exemption for solar photovoltaic (electric energy) projects greater than five megawatts, as measured in alternating current (AC) generation capacity, shall not apply to any such project unless an application has been filed with the locality for the project before July 1, 2030, regardless of whether a locality assesses a revenue share on such project pursuant to the provisions of § 58.1-2636. If a locality adopts an energy revenue share ordinance under § 58.1-2636, the exemption for solar photovoltaic (electric energy) projects greater than five megawatts, as measured in alternating current (AC) generation capacity, shall be 100 percent of the assessed value. If a locality does not adopt an energy revenue share ordinance under § 58.1-2636, the exemption for solar photovoltaic (electric energy) projects greater than five megawatts, as measured in alternating current (AC) generation capacity, for which an initial interconnection request form has been filed with an electric utility or a regional transmission organization, shall be 80 percent of the assessed value when an application has been filed with the locality prior to July 1, 2030. For purposes of this subsection, "application has been filed with the locality" means an applicant has filed an application for a zoning confirmation from the locality for a by-right use or an application for land use approval under the locality's zoning ordinance to include an application for a conditional use permit, special use permit, special exception, or other application as set out in the locality's zoning ordinance. E. For pollution control equipment and facilities certified by the Virginia Department of Health, this exemption applies only to onsite sewage systems that serve 10 or more households, use nitrogen-reducing processes and technology, and are constructed, wholly or partially, with public funds. F. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, for any solar photovoltaic project described in clauses (iii) and (v) of subsection C for which an initial interconnection request form has been filed with an electric utility or a regional transmission organization on or after January 1, 2019, the amount of the exemption shall be as follows: 80 percent of the assessed value in the first five years in service after commencement of commercial operation, 70 percent of the assessed value in the second five years in service, and 60 percent of the assessed value for all remaining years in service. G. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, the exemption for energy storage systems provided under this section (i) shall apply only to projects greater than five megawatts and less than 150 megawatts, as measured in alternating current (AC) storage capacity, and (ii) shall be in the following amounts: 80 percent of the assessed value in the first five years of service after commencement of commercial operation, 70 percent of the assessed value in the second five years in service, and 60 percent of the assessed value for all remaining years in service. H. The exemption for energy storage systems greater than five megawatts, as measured in alternating current (AC) storage capacity, shall not apply to any such project unless an application has been filed with the locality for the project before July 1, 2030, regardless of whether a locality assesses a revenue share on such project pursuant to the provisions of § 58.1-2636. If a locality adopts an energy revenue share ordinance under § 58.1-2636, the exemption for energy storage systems greater than five megawatts, as measured in alternating current (AC) storage capacity, shall be 100 percent of the assessed value. If a locality does not adopt an energy revenue share ordinance under § 58.1-2636, the exemption for energy storage systems greater than five megawatts, as measured in alternating current (AC) storage capacity, shall be as set out in subsection G when an application has been filed with the locality prior to July 1, 2030. For the purposes of this subsection, "application has been filed with the locality" means an applicant has filed an application for a zoning confirmation from the locality for a by-right use or an application for land use approval under the locality's zoning ordinance to include an application for a conditional use permit, special use permit, special exception, or other application as set out in the locality's zoning ordinance. Code 1950, § 58-16.3; 1972, c. 694; 1984, c. 675; 1995, c. 229; 2003, c. 859; 2006, cc. 375, 939; 2009, c. 671; 2014, cc. 259, 737; 2016, cc. 346, 518; 2018, c. 849; 2019, c. 441; 2020, cc. 65, 252, 1028, 1029, 1224, 1270; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 49, 50, 532; 2022, cc. 14, 501.

Va. Code § 58.1-3661

§ 58.1-3661. Certified solar energy equipment, facilities, or devices and certified recycling equipment, facilities, or devices.A. Any solar facility installed pursuant to subsections A or B of § 15.2-2288.7 with a nameplate rated electrical generating capacity measured in direct current kilowatts of not more than 25 kilowatts is hereby declared to be a separate class of property and shall constitute a classification for local taxation separate from other classifications of real or personal property. Such facilities shall be wholly exempt from state and local taxation pursuant to Article X, § 6 (d) of the Constitution of Virginia. B. Certified solar energy equipment, facilities, or devices and certified recycling equipment, facilities, or devices, as defined herein, are hereby declared to be a separate class of property and shall constitute a classification for local taxation separate from other classifications of real or personal property. The governing body of any county, city or town may, by ordinance, exempt or partially exempt such property from local taxation in the manner provided by subsection E. C. As used in this section: "Certified recycling equipment, facilities, or devices" means machinery and equipment which is certified by the Department of Environmental Quality as integral to the recycling process and for use primarily for the purpose of abating or preventing pollution of the atmosphere or waters of the Commonwealth, and used in manufacturing facilities or plant units which manufacture, process, compound, or produce for sale recyclable items of tangible personal property at fixed locations in the Commonwealth. "Certified solar energy equipment, facilities, or devices" means any property, including real or personal property, equipment, facilities, or devices, excluding any portion of such property that is exempt under § 58.1-3660, certified by the local certifying authority to be designed and used primarily for the purpose of collecting, generating, transferring, or storing thermal or electric energy. "Local certifying authority" means the local building departments or the Department of Environmental Quality. The State Board of Housing and Community Development shall promulgate regulations setting forth criteria for certifiable solar energy equipment. The Department of Environmental Quality shall promulgate regulations establishing criteria for recycling equipment, facilities, or devices. D. Any person residing in a county, city or town which has adopted an ordinance pursuant to subsection B may proceed to have solar energy equipment, facilities, or devices certified as exempt, wholly or partially, from taxation by applying to the local building department. If, after examination of such equipment, facility, or device, the local building department determines that the unit primarily performs any of the functions set forth in subsection C and conforms to the requirements set by regulations of the Board of Housing and Community Development, such department shall approve and certify such application. The local department shall forthwith transmit to the local assessing officer those applications properly approved and certified by the local building department as meeting all requirements qualifying such equipment, facility, or device for exemption from taxation. Any person aggrieved by a decision of the local building department may appeal such decision to the local board of building code appeals, which may affirm or reverse such decision. E. Upon receipt of the certificate from the local building department or the Department of Environmental Quality, the local assessing officer shall, if such local ordinance is in effect, proceed to determine the value of such qualifying solar energy equipment, facilities, or devices or certified recycling equipment, facilities, or devices. The exemption provided by this section shall be determined by applying the local tax rate to the value of such equipment, facilities, or devices and subtracting such amount, wholly or partially, either (i) from the total real property tax due on the real property to which such equipment, facilities, or devices are attached or (ii) if such equipment, facilities, or devices are taxable as machinery and tools under § 58.1-3507, from the total machinery and tools tax due on such equipment, facilities, or devices, at the election of the taxpayer. This exemption shall be effective beginning in the next succeeding tax year and shall be permitted for a term of not less than five years; however, if the taxpayer installs equipment, facilities, or devices and obtains certification for such equipment, facilities, or devices within one year of installation, the locality may provide by ordinance that the exemption shall be effective as of the date of installation, and if the taxpayer has paid any taxes on such equipment, facilities, or devices, the locality shall reimburse the taxpayer for any such taxes paid. In the event the locality assesses real estate pursuant to § 58.1-3292, the exemption shall be first effective when such real estate is first assessed, but not prior to the date of such application for exemption. F. It shall be presumed for purposes of the administration of ordinances pursuant to this section, and for no other purposes, that the value of such qualifying solar energy equipment, facilities, and devices is not less than the normal cost of purchasing and installing such equipment, facilities, and devices. Code 1950, § 58-16.4; 1977, c. 561; 1984, c. 675; 1988, c. 253; 1990, c. 690; 1998, c. 606; 2014, cc. 259, 737; 2016, c. 346; 2020, c. 633; 2022, c. 496.

Va. Code § 58.1-3852

§ 58.1-3852. Incentives for green roofing.A. As used in this article, unless the context clearly shows otherwise, the term or phrase: "Green roof" means a solar roof or a vegetative roof. "Solar roof" means a solar roofing system that generates reusable energy, which reusable energy accounts for at least 2.5 percent of the total electric energy used by the building to which the solar roofing system is attached. "Vegetative roof" means a roofing system designed in accordance with the Virginia Stormwater Management Program's standards and specifications for green roofs, as set forth in the Virginia Stormwater BMP Clearinghouse, in which at least 50 percent of the total roofing area is vegetative. B. Any county, city, or town may, by ordinance, grant incentives or provide regulatory flexibility to encourage the use of green roofs in the construction, repair, or remodeling of residential and commercial buildings. Any such incentive or regulatory flexibility shall require that green roofs be used. C. The incentives or regulatory flexibility may include, but shall not be limited, to (i) a reduction in permit fees when green roofs are used, (ii) a streamlined process for the approval of building permits when green roofs are used, or (iii) a reduction in any gross receipts tax on green roof contractors as defined by the local ordinance. D. The extent and duration of the incentives or regulatory flexibility shall conform to the requirements of the Constitutions of Virginia and of the United States. 2009, cc. 17, 604. Article 12. Local Defense Production Zone.

Va. Code § 62.1-198

§ 62.1-198. Legislative findings and purposes.The General Assembly finds that there exists in the Commonwealth a critical need for additional sources of funding to finance the present and future needs of the Commonwealth for water supply; land conservation or land preservation, including land for parks and other recreational purposes; oyster restoration projects, including planting and replanting with seed oysters, oyster shells, or other material that will catch, support, and grow oysters; wastewater treatment facilities; drainage facilities; solid waste treatment, disposal, and management facilities; recycling facilities; resource recovery facilities; energy conservation and energy efficiency projects; professional sports facilities; certain heavy rail transportation facilities; public safety facilities; airport facilities; the remediation of brownfields and contaminated properties, including properties contaminated by defective drywall; the design and construction of roads, public parking garages, and other public transportation facilities, and facilities for public transportation by commuter rail; construction of local government buildings, including administrative and operations systems and other local government equipment and infrastructure; site acquisition and site development work for economic development projects; community development projects, to include projects related to the production and preservation of housing, including housing for persons and families of low and moderate income; recovered gas energy facilities; the location or retention of federal facilities in the Commonwealth and the support of the transition of former federal facilities from use by the federal government to other uses; and renewable energy projects, including solar, wind, biomass, waste-to-energy, and geothermal. This need can be alleviated in part through the creation of a resources authority. Its purpose is to encourage the investment of both public and private funds and to make loans, grants, and credit enhancements available to local governments to finance water and sewer projects; land conservation or land preservation programs or projects; oyster restoration projects; drainage projects; solid waste treatment, disposal, and management projects; recycling projects; energy conservation and energy efficiency projects; professional sports facilities; resource recovery projects; public safety facilities; airport facilities; the remediation of brownfields and contaminated properties, including properties contaminated by defective drywall; the design and construction of roads, public parking garages, and other public transportation facilities, and facilities for public transportation by commuter rail; site acquisition and site development work for the benefit of economic development projects; community development projects, to include projects related to the production and preservation of housing, including housing for persons and families of low and moderate income; technology; construction of local government buildings, including administrative and operations systems and other local government equipment and infrastructure; infrastructure for broadband services; recovered gas energy facilities; federal facilities or former federal facilities; and renewable energy projects. The General Assembly determines that the creation of an authority for this purpose is in the public interest, serves a public purpose, and will promote the health, safety, welfare, convenience, or prosperity of the people of the Commonwealth. 1984, c. 699; 1989, cc. 533, 551; 1990, c. 506; 1998, c. 399; 2000, c. 790; 2001, cc. 652, 661; 2003, c. 561; 2005, cc. 727, 769; 2007, cc. 81, 649, 663; 2008, cc. 3, 24, 238, 259, 504, 605, 613; 2009, cc. 14, 246, 311, 543, 632; 2010, cc. 42, 724, 820; 2011, c. 270; 2023, cc. 440, 441.

Va. Code § 62.1-199

§ 62.1-199. Definitions.As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Authority" means the Virginia Resources Authority created by this chapter. "Board of Directors" means the Board of Directors of the Authority. "Bonds" means any bonds, notes, debentures, interim certificates, bond, grant or revenue anticipation notes, lease and sale-leaseback transactions, or any other obligations of the Authority for the payment of money. "Capital Reserve Fund" means the reserve fund created and established by the Authority in accordance with § 62.1-215. "Cost," as applied to any project financed under the provisions of this chapter, means the total of all costs incurred by the local government as reasonable and necessary for carrying out all works and undertakings necessary or incident to the accomplishment of any project. It includes, without limitation, all necessary developmental, planning and feasibility studies, surveys, plans and specifications, architectural, engineering, financial, legal or other special services, the cost of acquisition of land and any buildings and improvements thereon, including the discharge of any obligations of the sellers of such land, buildings or improvements, real estate appraisals, site preparation and development, including demolition or removal of existing structures, construction and reconstruction, labor, materials, machinery and equipment, the reasonable costs of financing incurred by the local government in the course of the development of the project, including the cost of any credit enhancements, carrying charges incurred before placing the project in service, interest on local obligations issued to finance the project to a date subsequent to the estimated date the project is to be placed in service, necessary expenses incurred in connection with placing the project in service, the funding of accounts and reserves which the Authority may require, and the cost of other items which the Authority determines to be reasonable and necessary. It also includes the amount of any contribution, grant, or aid which a local government may make or give to any adjoining state, the District of Columbia or any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof to pay the costs incident and necessary to the accomplishment of any project, including, without limitation, the items set forth above. "Cost" also includes interest and principal payments pursuant to any installment purchase agreement. "Credit enhancements" means surety bonds, insurance policies, letters of credit, guarantees, and other forms of collateral or security. "Defective drywall" means the same as that term is defined in § 36-156.1. "Federal facility" means any building or infrastructure used or to be used by the federal government, including any building or infrastructure located on lands owned by the federal government. "Federal government" means the United States of America, or any department, agency, or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States of America. "Former federal facility" means any federal facility formerly used by the federal government or in transition from use by the federal government to a facility all or part of which is to serve any local government. "Local government" means any county, city, town, municipal corporation, authority, district, commission, or political subdivision created by the General Assembly or pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth or any combination of any two or more of the foregoing. "Local obligations" means any bonds, notes, debentures, interim certificates, bond, grant or revenue anticipation notes, leases, credit enhancements, or any other obligations of a local government for the payment of money. "Minimum capital reserve fund requirement" means, as of any particular date of computation, the amount of money designated as the minimum capital reserve fund requirement which may be established in the resolution of the Authority authorizing the issuance of, or the trust indenture securing, any outstanding issue of bonds or credit enhancement. "Project" means (i) any water supply or wastewater treatment facility, including a facility for receiving and stabilizing septage or a soil drainage management facility, and any solid waste treatment, disposal, or management facility, recycling facility, federal facility or former federal facility, or resource recovery facility located or to be located in the Commonwealth, the District of Columbia, or any adjoining state, all or part of which facility serves or is to serve any local government, and (ii) any federal facility located or to be located in the Commonwealth, provided that both the Board of Directors of the Authority and the governing body of the local government receiving the benefit of the loan, grant, or credit enhancement from the Authority make a determination or finding to be embodied in a resolution or ordinance that the undertaking and financing of such facility is necessary for the location or retention of such facility and the related use by the federal government in the Commonwealth. The term includes, without limitation, water supply and intake facilities; water treatment and filtration facilities; water storage facilities; water distribution facilities; sewage and wastewater (including surface and ground water) collection, treatment, and disposal facilities; drainage facilities and projects; solid waste treatment, disposal, or management facilities; recycling facilities; resource recovery facilities; related office, administrative, storage, maintenance, and laboratory facilities; and interests in land related thereto. The term also includes energy conservation measures and facility technology infrastructure as defined in § 45.2-1702 and other energy objectives as defined in § 45.2-1706.1. The term also means any heavy rail transportation facilities operated by a transportation district created under the Transportation District Act of 1964 (§ 33.2-1900 et seq.) that operates heavy rail freight service, including rolling stock, barge loading facilities, and any related marine or rail equipment. The term also means, without limitation, the design and construction of roads, the construction of local government buildings, including administrative and operations systems and other local government equipment and infrastructure, public parking garages and other public transportation facilities, and facilities for public transportation by commuter rail. In addition, the term means any project as defined in § 5.1-30.1 or 10.1-603.28 and any professional sports facility, including a major league baseball stadium as defined in § 15.2-5800, provided that the specific professional sports facility projects have been designated by the General Assembly as eligible for assistance from the Authority. The term also means any equipment, facilities, and technology infrastructure designed to provide broadband service. The term also means facilities supporting, related to, or otherwise used for public safety, including but not limited to law-enforcement training facilities and emergency response, fire, rescue, and police stations. The term also means the remediation, redevelopment, and rehabilitation of property contaminated by the release of hazardous substances, hazardous wastes, solid wastes, or petroleum, where such remediation has not clearly been mandated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Environmental Quality, or a court pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (42 U.S.C. § 9601 et seq.), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq.), the Virginia Waste Management Act (§ 10.1-1400 et seq.), the State Water Control Law (§ 62.1-44.2 et seq.), or other applicable statutory or common law or where jurisdiction of those statutes has been waived. The term also means any program or project for land conservation, parks, park facilities, land for recreational purposes, or land preservation, including but not limited to any program or project involving the acquisition of rights or interests in land for the conservation or preservation of such land. The term also means any dredging program or dredging project undertaken to benefit the economic and community development goals of a local government but does not include any dredging program or dredging project undertaken for or by the Virginia Port Authority. The term also means any oyster restoration project, including planting and replanting with seed oysters, oyster shells, or other material that will catch, support, and grow oysters. The term also means any program or project to perform site acquisition or site development work for the benefit of economic and community development projects for any local government. The term also means any undertaking by a local government to build or facilitate the production or preservation of housing or a recovered gas energy facility and any local government renewable energy project, including solar, wind, biomass, waste-to-energy, and geothermal projects. The term also means any undertaking by a local government to facilitate the remediation of residential properties contaminated by the presence of defective drywall. The term also means any undertaking by a local government to provide grants, loans, financial assistance, or any other incentives pursuant to § 15.2-958. "Recovered gas energy facility" means a facility, located at or adjacent to (i) a solid waste management facility permitted by the Department of Environmental Quality or (ii) a sewerage system or sewage treatment work described in § 62.1-44.18 that is constructed and operated for the purpose of treating sewage and wastewater for discharge to state waters, which facility or work is constructed and operated for the purpose of (a) reclaiming or collecting methane or other combustible gas from the biodegradation or decomposition of solid waste, as defined in § 10.1-1400, that has been deposited in the solid waste management facility or sewerage system or sewage treatment work and (b) either using such gas to generate electric energy or upgrading the gas to pipeline quality and transmitting it off premises for sale or delivery to commercial or industrial purchasers or to a public utility or locality. 1984, c. 699; 1985, c. 67; 1986, c. 331; 1987, cc. 117, 133; 1989, cc. 533, 551; 1990, c. 506; 1998, c. 399; 1999, c. 897; 2000, c. 790; 2001, cc. 652, 661; 2005, cc. 727, 769; 2007, cc. 81, 649, 663; 2008, cc. 3, 24, 238, 259, 504, 605, 613; 2009, cc. 14, 246, 311, 543, 632; 2010, cc. 42, 724, 820; 2011, cc. 270, 616; 2018, c. 153; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 327; 2022, cc. 739, 782; 2023, cc. 440, 441.

The law belongs to the people. Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 590 U.S. (2020)