Arlington County partners with Dominion Energy on renewable energy goals

The Arlington County Board of Supervisors has approved a partnership with Dominion Energy Virginia to purchase power from a solar farm being built in Pittsylvania County.

The project is projected to go beyond the county’s adopted Community Energy Plan goal of having at least 50 percent of electricity for county operations come from renewable sources by 2022.

Dominion Energy is building the farm in Berry Hill, which when operational in 2022 is expected to generate about 79,000 megawatt-hours of electricity per year for Arlington County’s government operations.

That is more than 80 percent of the electricity used annually for all county buildings, streetlights, traffic signals, water pumping and wastewater treatment.

“This is a groundbreaking partnership for the county,” Arlington County Board Chair Libby Garvey said. “It will take us a long way toward our goal of 100 percent use of renewable sources for all electricity used in government operations by 2025.”

Arlington County is the first locality in the Commonwealth to enter into a power purchase agreement of this scale for off-site solar energy with an investor-owned utility company.

“Dominion Energy is committed to lowering carbon emissions and helping our customers do the same,” said Emil Avram, vice president of business development, Dominion Energy. “We’re proud to be a trusted energy partner with Arlington County and help support their renewable energy needs.”

The agreement will not require any capital funding or upfront costs from the County. The solar farm will generate electricity that Dominion sells into the wholesale electric grid at market rates. The price for the delivered energy and renewable attributes will be the difference between the wholesale power price and the contract fixed price.

For the first year, the net credit or cost will be estimated based on price forecasts and estimates of electricity production. In each subsequent year, the credit or cost will be reset based on the previous year’s actual production and costs.

Arlington County currently pays Dominion Energy for electricity. Over time, this agreement is expected to be cost neutral. The project will have no impact on customer rates.