On Dec. 8, 2025, the Piedmont Environmental Council hosted and recorded a webinar on net metering – the fundamental billing structure that makes small-scale solar financially viable for homeowners, businesses and farmers – and Dominion Energy’s attempt to weaken it.
Energy Matters
PEC works toward energy solutions that emphasize efficiency first, use appropriate technologies for the 21st Century and respect the scenic and historic character of the Piedmont.
Update on Solar Regulations, Soil/Forage Research & Agrivoltaic Project Initiatives – Webinar Recording
On December 5, 2025, Virginia Tech’s School of Plant & Environmental Sciences Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Cooperative Extension, and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) hosted a webinar on updates around solar regulations, soil/forage research, and agrivoltaics project initiatives.
During the webinar, PEC Senior Energy & Climate Policy Advisor Ashish Kapoor and PEC Community Farm Manager Teddy Pitsiokos spoke about PEC’s PEC’s crop-based agrivoltaics project at the Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows. They reviewed the solar and agricultural setups, and how and why they chose those setups, with the goal of being able to replicate the project for farmers and others wanting to implement agrivoltaics in Virginia. In addition, the project serves as a demonstration site for people to interact with an agrivoltaics installation first-hand and learn about the many local advantages of small-scale agrivoltaics (see photo below).
They shared the process for implementing the project, including installing the solar panels and battery storage, planting the in-ground and planter bed crops, and the experimental and data collection process. Finally, they shared unexpected hurdles they encountered along the way, which they have documented so that others may learn from them.
You can watch the recording of their presentation, which starts at the 1:17:20 mark in the video.
Additional Resources:
How Agrivoltaics Can Help Solve Virginia’s Energy Crisis
Shining a Light on Agrivoltaics at Roundabout Meadows
Videos: Agrivoltaics Project at PEC’s Community FarmShining a Light on Agrivoltaics at Roundabout Meadows
Golden to Mars Transmission Line Hearing Delayed, Comment Period Extended After Nearly 600 Sign Up to Testify
In September, we encouraged you to submit comments and sign up to testify at the SCC hearings in Loudoun County to voice your concerns and call for undergrounding the Golden to Mars line, and you rose to the challenge! Over 1,000 comments and nearly 600 witnesses signed up to testify.
Culpeper Update: Moving the Needle
In this quarterly Culpeper update, I share some ways we’ve helped to move the needle in a positive direction, as well as provide a few important opportunities to engage with our state elected officials during the 2026 legislative session.
Orange County Residents: Demand Commonsense Data Center Regulation
This coming Tuesday, Dec. 16, the Board of Supervisors is likely to vote on a proposed zoning ordinance that does not go far enough to protect the residents and natural resources of the county. We have serious concerns that the proposed “floating zone” approach will cause land speculation across the county, industrialize agricultural areas, and allow developers to build data centers near parks, schools and homes.
The PEC Leadership Felt ‘Round the World
Finally, the world is hearing the alarm that The Piedmont Environmental Council has been sounding for years: that the unconstrained and unregulated explosion of the data center industry is forever changing the face of not only Virginia, but communities around the world.
The friendliest type of energy generation: a conversation on agrivoltaics
PEC’s Senior Energy & Climate Advisor Ashish Kapoor and Community Farm Manager Teddy Pitsiokos sat down to tell us more about PEC’s groundbreaking agrivoltaics project, which has the potential to revolutionize the conversation around solar and agriculture.
Dominion Energy’s Proposed Changes to “Net Metering” Would Undercut Small-Scale Solar
In May 2025, Dominion Energy petitioned the State Corporation Commission to cut the net metering credit by nearly half. Unfortunately, this proposed change will severely undermine the practicality of rooftop solar and critically hamper increased distributed energy generation and energy independence.
Orange County Proposes New “Technology” Zoning District
The Orange County Planning Commission is poised to recommend a draft ordinance establishing a Technology zoning district intended to accommodate – and minimize the adverse impacts of – data centers. The county is considering many of the right questions; however, it must also consider some significant unintended consequences of a well-intentioned proposal.
Additional Transmission Lines Proposed to Serve Data Centers
There is another opportunity right now to share your input on an important issue impacting our region. We hope you will take a few minutes before Monday, Dec. 8 to voice your concerns and opinions on proposals for yet more massive transmission lines to serve data centers.