The Virginia Clean Economy Act (HB 1526 and SB 851) was signed into law by Governor Ralph Northam in 2020.
Utilities that fail to comply with the RPS will pay into a fund that, in-part, goes toward training historically disadvantaged communities for employment in the clean energy sector.
[5] A report from Advanced Energy Economy, however, estimated that over the course of the bill’s life, Virginia families will actually gain $3,500 and that several thousand jobs will be netted.
[4] Parts of the state are threatened by sea level rise and environmental justice concerns, yet it also has strong ties to the fossil fuel industry.
In the years before the bill passed, several climate activism organizations built grassroots support for clean energy such that when the legislative bodies and governorship were held by Democrats in 2020, the grassroots base could quickly mobilize to pass a renewable energy standard.