When it passed in 2020, the Virginia Clean Economy Act promised to lower costs, keep up with energy demands, and eliminate fossil fuels from Virginia’s energy economy. Instead, power companies are asking for rate increases and regional energy providers warned of electricity shortfalls throughout the state.

Now even Democrats who once considered the bill a crowning achievement are looking for ways to walk-back the VCEA’s mandates against hydrocarbon power.

Warning from regional energy monitors PJM Interconnection and the North American Electricity Reliability Corporation sound alarms that there might not be enough energy to support Virginian’s needs.

“This season also marks the first time in PJM’s annual assessment, however, that available generation capacity may fall short of required reserves in an extreme planning scenario that would result in an all-time PJM peak load of more than 166,000 MW,” the PJM report said. “Under such circumstances, PJM would call on contracted demand response programs to meet its required reserve needs.”

From California to Spain and Portugal, the shift away from reliable energy sources and toward weather dependent ones such as solar and wind has strained power grids and resulted in measures such as rolling blackouts lasting hours and ordered by energy providers.   

Economic growth, especially in digital industries such as data centers have increased power demands statewide, while alternative energy providers admit that weather-dependent energy production such as solar is both more expensive to consumers and not feasible without massive federal subsidies.

“The VCEA is imposing artificial constraints on our generation capacity and is creating many of these challenges,” said Republican State Senator Mark Obenshain.

Appalachian Power submitted a request to regulators last week asking to increase rates by as much as 2.5% to offset the costs of VCEA compliance. 

While Democrat leadership in the Legislature has expressed a willingness to reexamine the law, activists have rallied to defend the restrictions and continue to demand that electric companies shut down existing power plants.