After four years of Glenn Youngkin letting Big Energy write its own rules, Abigail Spanberger is taking energy policy back under public control.
The Democratic governor, on Thursday, released the 2026 Virginia Energy Plan, which is required of governors every four years, to be used as a tool to guide policy and public investment in the energy sector.
The Energy Plan from the Spanberger administration is more a roadmap with options prioritizing transitions to cleaner energy, with a recognition built in that forecasts data centers will eat up a massive chunk of our energy needs and capacity in the coming years.
The key feature of the Spanberger Energy Plan is its use of energy-system modeling and analysis.
The modeling shows Virginia has multiple pathways to a net-zero power system by 2050 without having to rely on a single fuel or energy technology – which is to say, it’s not Youngkin’s drill, baby, drill.
“Understanding the complexity of this moment, we knew that this year’s Energy Plan needed to do more than present a prescriptive path forward — it needed to analyze the options before us,” Spanberger said in a statement. “We have clearly demonstrated that there are multiple paths forward that would allow Virginia to meet our clean energy goals, strengthen our energy mix, and power growth, investment and innovation.
Key provisions
- Accelerating the deployment of the lowest cost, fastest, and cleanest energy solutions
- Ensuring data center growth advances Virginia’s energy goals
- Aligning utility incentives with affordable energy outcomes
- Advancing development of clean firm resources to keep critical infrastructure running in Virginia
- Reducing emissions from and better leveraging gas infrastructure
- Driving affordable, clean transportation across the Commonwealth
- Building a homegrown workforce and supply chain to power Virginia’s energy economy
Reactions
Clean Virginia Executive Director Brennan Gilmore:
“Gov. Spanberger’s 2026 Virginia Energy Plan marks a real shift in how Virginia makes energy policy. For decades, utility monopolies have shaped the laws, plans and models that determine Virginia’s energy future, focused on maximizing their own profits. The Governor’s plan rightly shifts Virginia’s energy planning and decisions away from utility boardrooms and back to accountable public officials.
“For the first time, the Commonwealth is running its own energy modeling in-house. Policymakers — not industry lobbyists — produced independent, detailed analysis of the best paths forward, centering affordability and the public interest. The plan calls for state-led energy planning and infrastructure site identification. It also proposes exploring a state-run procurement process for renewable energy that evaluates utility-owned and third-party resources side by side on least-cost, least-risk criteria, rather than favoring utility ownership. Utilities could still bid, and win, when their projects are the cheapest option.
“The plan acknowledges that Virginia’s century-old regulatory model pays utilities for spending capital, not delivering results. It recommends evaluating the tying of utility returns to a market benchmark, reducing the share of expensive equity that customers finance and advancing performance-based regulation. These reforms are critical to lowering Virginians’ electric bills.
“The data center industry is placing extreme demand on the state’s energy infrastructure, and most of the energy infrastructure expansion addressed in the plan is to serve the industry. The plan acknowledges that data centers should bear the cost of that infrastructure, instead of passing it on to Virginia families and small businesses.
“Dominion Energy’s own plans project residential electricity prices rising roughly 60% over the next decade. Alternatively, the governor’s plan offers a path to stay on track with Virginia’s clean energy goals while ensuring energy affordability. Additionally, it recognizes the need for greater attention to environmental justice and the disproportionate impacts of new energy infrastructure in marginalized communities.
“Significantly, some of the policy recommendations from the plan have been introduced in previous legislative sessions, only to die under the weight of hefty political donations from corporations with a vested financial interest in energy decisions. As long as Virginia remains one of only four states with no laws restricting corporate campaign donations, the influence of corporate money will always remain a fundamental threat to achieving the vision of an affordable clean energy future. Notably, Gov. Spanberger was elected to office without taking money from monopoly utilities.
“Finally, the release of the governor’s new energy plan comes as Virginia weighs whether to approve Florida-based NextEra’s $67 billion bid to acquire Dominion Energy. Both Dominion and NextEra have a long history of leveraging campaign contributions to gain political power and access to policymakers. In Florida, NextEra has used its political power and campaign contributions to fight rooftop solar and customer-owned energy, the very kinds of solutions the Governor’s plan rightfully promotes.”
Blair St. Ledger-Olson, director of advocacy & campaigns at the Virginia League of Conservation Voters:
“Four years of obstruction by the Youngkin administration, rollbacks and chaos at the federal level, and the Commonwealth’s inaction to-date to hold data center developers accountable to stronger clean energy standards are resulting in higher bills for Virginians and making it harder to reach Virginia’s ambitious goals of 100% clean energy generation.
“The Spanberger administration has its work cut out for them, and this energy plan recognizes the challenges ahead. Pausing data center approvals until robust community and environmental protections are in place will go a long way in ensuring we’re making the right kinds of energy investments and that our utilities aren’t overbuilding and overcharging Virginians because of Big Tech.
“We are committed to working with this administration to advance an affordable clean energy future that puts everyday Virginians first.”
Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney Nate Benforado:
“The Spanberger administration’s Energy Plan rightfully prioritizes public health and reinforces the Commonwealth’s commitment to its clean energy transition, even if data centers continue to grow at a reckless pace. The analysis undercuts the case for harmful and costly gas plants, like the massive polluting facility Dominion has proposed in Cumberland.
“But the Energy Plan is also a critical reminder that Virginians should not and cannot accept this record data center growth as a foregone conclusion. As data centers continue to flock to the state in record numbers and utility giant NextEra tries to maximize profits by acquiring Dominion and its portfolio of data center-driven projects, everyday Virginians should not be forced to make tradeoffs to power this global industry. Data center companies — whose reckless growth is why we are here in the first place — should face these tough choices. It is time to rein them in.
“It is clear the administration is serious about all of this work and ready to prioritize Virginians’ health and our climate to ensure Virginia’s energy future remains bright.”
Chesapeake Bay Foundation Virginia Policy Manager Jay Ford:
“Gov. Spanberger and her team should be commended for laying out an energy roadmap that promotes public health and Virginia’s transition to clean energy. This plan prioritizes the health and economic well-being of Virginians and represents a model for how state energy planning should be done.
“However, this plan also makes clear that unchecked data center growth is swiftly pushing Virginia toward an unsustainable set of choices for our energy future. All scenarios in the proposal involve significant reliance on fossil fuels to meet ever-skyrocketing anticipated power demands for data centers.
“Virginians should not have to sacrifice their health and well-being to make the wealthiest companies in human history even more profitable.
“This plan makes clear that lawmakers need to build on the governor’s strong Data Center Accountability Framework and act aggressively in the coming 2027 legislative session to rein in these out-of-control energy and water guzzlers.”
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Chris Graham
