Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger has signed four bills into law that will see an additional 625MW of new shared solar capacity made available in the state over the next year and a half.
The new legislation consists of two pairs of bills that relate to investor-owned utilities in the state: Senate Bill 254 and House Bill 807, and Senate Bill 255 and House Bill 809; each pair of senate and house bills is identical, but have different names as they were submitted to different parts of the Virginia legislature. Both pairs of bills were passed by the Virginia General Assembly in March and have now been signed into law with Spanberger’s approval.
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The first pair of bills—SB 254 and HB 807—cover a shared solar programme offered by utility Dominion Energy. Dominion initially offered 200MW of capacity to 52 community solar projects serving “tens of thousand of customers”, according to the Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA).
The pair of bills obligates Dominion Energy to offer an additional 525MW of new shared solar capacity by 1 July this year, with a “dedicated portion” for low-income subscribers, after the first round of community solar was oversubscribed.
SB255 and HB809, meanwhile, requires Appalachian Power to offer 50MW of new shared solar capacity by 1 July and a further 50MW by 1 January 2028. As of 2025, these utilities accounted for 3.2 million customers, nearly 78% of the state’s total utility customers, and additional community solar offerings for these customers could have a significant impact on Virgina’s solar sector as a whole.
“By expanding shared solar into both Dominion and Appalachian Power territories, Virginia is building an energy system that works for every ratepayer, not just those who can afford rooftop panels,” said Charlie Coggeshall, mid-Atlantic director at CCSA. “We are grateful for the governor’s leadership and for the legislators who fought to get this across the finish line.”
The bills were sponsored by senator Scott Surovell and delegate Rip Sullivan, both Democrats, and secured bipartisan support ahead of their passage.
CCSA noted that customers participating in the community solar programmes already on offer have cut their energy bills by around US$175 per year—equivalent to a 10% saving on monthly energy bills—and reporting from consultant Dunsky found that an expanded community solar sector in Virginia would deliver savings for utility customers, whether or not they subscribed directly to the community solar programme.
The new Virginia law follows the passage of laws in Maine to facilitate the deployment of so-called ‘balcony solar’, which are plug-in solar projects for residential customers. Virginia has a relatively small residential solar sector—ranking 27th for residential capacity per capita, according to the US Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)—compared to its operational utility-scale capacity, which ranks tenth per capita. Expanding the state’s distributed solar sector would address this imbalance.
