Dominion plans to install 5.2GW of solar over 25 years

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
5.2GW of solar power by 2042 is a significant increase of Dominion’s commitment, which previously stood at 400MW by 2020. Source: Energy and Policy Institute

Virginia-headquartered utility Dominion Virginia Power has touted plans to boost its installed solar capacity for customers in Virginia and North Carolina.

According to its 2017 Integrated Resource Plan, Dominion says that it could power the equivalent of 1.3 million homes – which constitutes around half of its current customer base – with solar power. This would entail installing around 5.2GW of solar over 25 years. The plan was filed with the Virginia State Corporation Commission and the North Carolina Utilities Commission.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

To implement this, the company anticipates installing at least 3,200MW by 2032 and 5,200MW in the following 10 years.

5.2GW of solar power by 2042 is a significant increase of Dominion’s commitment, which previously stood at 400MW by 2020.

“For the first time, the subsidised costs of utility-scale universal solar power are expected to be low enough to make it a component of future generation additions at reasonable cost to our customers,” Paul Koonce, CEO of Dominion Generation Group, said at a news conference.

Koonce said that the utility will continue to move towards cleaner power sources and lower emissions, irrespective of the fate of the Clean Power Plan – which was recently suspended due to a Court of Appeals ruling.

The company’s plan has designs to reduce the carbon footprint of a typical customer by as much as 25% over the next eight years.

New infrastructure

Robert Blue, president and CEO of Dominion Virginia Power, said making the switch to using more solar would take new infrastructure.

“To make widespread solar possible, it will require transforming the power delivery system to a two-way network that can accommodate these new sources of energy,” he said.

There are no details of yet as to what these changes would be or how much they might cost.

The utility plans to focus on bolstering its solar power will continuing to invest in natural gas and nuclear resources to serve its 2.6 million customers across the two states.

Koonce said the three resources combined, “hit the sweet spot,” in terms of cost, reliability and the environment. The company said in its Plan that it also intends to deploy two offshore wind turbines that would generate 12MW of power by 2021.

Solar energy advocates welcomed Dominion’s plans for expansion, but they noted that, even with the growth the company plans to implement, Virginia would remain far behind other states in terms of solar development. A laggard on the technology until relatively recently, it currently ranks 20th in the nation for installed capacity.

“We see the announcement from Dominion as a positive sign that they are beginning to take solar more seriously as the viable energy resource that it is,” said J.R. Tolbert, Virginia’s vice president of state policy for Advanced Energy Economy. “However, at the end of the day, the numbers that Dominion puts forward in the IRP are still way far behind what other states are doing.”

7 October 2025
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 7-8 October 2025 is our third PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The events in 2023 and 2024 were a sell out success and 2025 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.
21 October 2025
New York, USA
Returning for its 12th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
16 June 2026
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 16-17 June 2026, will be our fifth PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2027 and beyond.

Read Next

July 2, 2025
Indigenous-led renewable energy company Yindjibarndi Energy Corporation (YEC) has submitted plans for a hybrid wind and solar PV renewable energy project to the Australian government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
July 2, 2025
Robotics company Luminous has received AU$4.9 million (US$3.2 million) via Australia’s Solar ScaleUp Challenge to support deploying its ‘LUMI’ technology at utility-scale solar PV power plants.
July 1, 2025
Independent power producer (IPP) Arevon Energy has closed a US$600 million credit facility to support its solar PV and energy storage portfolio in the US.
June 30, 2025
Heliene has completed the sale of Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credits in association with Minnesota-based U.S. Bank.
June 30, 2025
Voting on the US tax reconciliation bill is expected to begin in the Senate today, following a draft published on Friday that hit clean energy tax credits hard.
June 30, 2025
US clean energy developer Clearway Energy Group has received corporate credit facilities over US$1 billion.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Media Partners, Solar Media Events
July 2, 2025
Bangkok, Thailand
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico
Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece
Solar Media Events
September 22, 2025
Bilbao, Spain
Solar Media Events
September 30, 2025
Seattle, USA