Dive Brief:
- Dominion Energy on Wednesday announced a request for proposals (RFP) for up to 500 MW of wind and solar resources located in Virginia, as authorized by the state's Grid Transformation & Security Act (GTSA).
- Dominion is aiming to have 3 GW of new solar and wind in development by 2022, and will issue a series of annual RFPs to meet that goal, the company said.
- The RFP is soliciting bids for energy, capacity and environmental attributes including Renewable Energy Certificates, but the utility says the solar and onshore wind facilities must be at least 5 MW (AC) in size.
Dive Insight:
Dominion's RFP is for less than 20% of the total renewables it wants to develop in the next several years, but more will be coming as the utility begins building out a large, green energy resource base. The total five-year plan will supply sufficient carbon-free energy to power 750,000 homes, the company said.
"To meet this long-term commitment, the company intends to issue a Request for Proposals each year, similar in timing and content to the solicitation released today, until the pledge has been met," Dominion said in its announcement.
The request for proposals outlines project requirements and power and asset purchase agreement terms, and requires a commercial operations date in 2020. Dominion also published price and non-price evaluation criteria, and called on project developers to submit a notice of intent to bid, and confidentiality agreements, by Nov. 2.
Final asset purchase and power purchase proposals are due Dec. 13 and March 14, 2019, respectively.
Dominion's goals fall in line with Virginia's targets, as it is the largest utility in the state. Virginia released its annual 10-year energy plan earlier this month, recommending development of 3 GW of solar and onshore wind by 2022, along with 2 GW of offshore wind by 2028.
Dominion has partnered with Denmark's DONG Energy to develop a 12 MW Virginia offshore wind facility and officials say it could ultimately be expanded to serve more than 500,000 customers.
