Campaign mailer fumbles energy facts as it touts renewables Image By EPN Staff A little-known, Seattle-based nonprofit is circulating misleading information to homes across Virginia, using direct mailers to tell recipients that wind and solar energy are cheaper and more reliable than natural gas. Utility Action Alliance’s mailers claim “Dominion Energy and PJM are to blame” for higher power bills projected for Virginia. The piece asserts Dominion is “allowing PJM to raise your rates by failing to connect cheaper, clean energy to the grid.” Why it matters Internal Revenue Service records show Utility Action Alliance reported less than $50,000 in gross receipts in 2023, the most recent year in which data are available. It’s likely one of many small, upstart groups to manage donor funds toward campaign-style attacks. As Virginia prepares for its off-year general election, featuring all three statewide offices and all 100 seats in the House of Delegates, the influx of out-of-state cash – and barrage of misinformation – is expected to blanket the commonwealth. In 2021, Republican Glenn Youngkin won election over former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe in a record-setting gubernatorial fundraising campaign, with more than $141 million raised. That far eclipsed the previous record of nearly $77 million. The ad offers one example of how complex energy policy matters can be reduced to twisted, misleading political talking points that ultimately raise costs on Virginians. How it works PJM is the regional transmission operator (RTO) managing the grid for 13 states, including Virginia, and Washington, D.C. In addition to facilitating generation and distribution of electricity across its multi-state grid, PJM must annually procure enough energy capacity to ensure the entire grid will have power at peak demand. Through annual capacity auctions, PJM facilitates the process of ensuring generators will provide the needed capacity to handle events like the recent extreme cold in the eastern United States, when PJM set a new record for peak gigawatt hours. Assertions that PJM is refusing to connect “cheaper, cleaner energy to the grid” ignores the fact that wind and solar have some of the lowest capacity of any energy source. Capacity measures the amount of time a resource is producing maximum power output, and it is directly linked to reliability. Capacity rates in Virginia: Nuclear: 95% Natural gas: 60% Wind: 45% Solar: 20% The bigger picture In 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) agreed with PJM that its plan at the time overestimated the reliability of intermittent resources. FERC approved a PJM request to limit renewables within its capacity mix. However, even as FERC acknowledges the perils of relying on intermittent energy in emergencies, up to 30% of PJM’s current installed capacity could retire over the next five years. Decreasing supply and increasing demand led to soaring costs at PJM’s 2024 capacity auction, as PJM ‘s peak forecast increased by 3,200 MW, and 6,600 MW of generation retired. Rapid decarbonization and increasing demand have created a recipe for higher prices in Virginia down the road. Virginia’s demand for power is higher than it has ever been, largely due to data center development and increased electrification of several sectors, including transportation. The cause of Virginia’s costs The 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act required the commonwealth to retire the majority of its baseload generation in favor of wind and solar, triggering massive investments in costly utility-scale energy storage. Independent market analysts and Dominion have projected that a full-scale transition to renewables will cause significant bill increases – and possibly unplanned power outages. Dominion projected this transition will cause power bills to increase by 70% between 2021 and 2035. PJM’s independent Market Monitor predicted that power plant retirements required by environmental regulations will “increase both energy and capacity prices.” This month, Dominion acknowledged the cost of its 2.6-gigawatt offshore wind farm near Virginia Beach will jump nearly 10 percent, to $10.7 billion. Meanwhile, the cost of natural gas in Virginia, which represents more than 50% of the state’s total energy, fell by 4% last year.
