As this year’s legislative session winds down, I want to take the opportunity to let you know about a few important developments in Culpeper County and encourage you to attend/weigh in and keep on the lookout for more to come.
Distributed, Clean Generation
When appropriately sited, renewable options such as solar, wind and geothermal, can perform an extremely valuable function – providing peak power close to the load, energy security, cost savings, local employment opportunities, and emissions reductions.
TedX Talk: 3 Ways to Find the Radical Middle with PEC’s Ashish Kapoor
PEC’s Senior Energy & Climate Advisor, Ashish Kapoor, gave a talk at TedX Warrenton about three ways to find the radical middle when navigating views across social and political spectrums.
Support Agrivoltaics Bill HB 508 / SB 340
HB 508 / SB 340 defines “agrivoltaics,” as it pertains to small renewable energy projects, as “the intentional co-location of agricultural production and solar energy generation on the same land…
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.
Why Dominion is Trying to Kill Small-Scale Solar – Webinar Recording
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Fight to Stop Dominion’s Attack on Small-Scale Solar – Webinar Recording
On October 21, Solar United Neighbors hosted a webinar on Dominion Energy’s proposal to severely limit net metering. PEC’s Senior Energy & Climate Policy Advisor, Ashish Kapoor, shared findings from our new Value of Solar report.
The Value of Solar Report
Committed to advancing Virginia’s clean energy future, PEC commissioned Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors to study and calculate the actual value of distributed solar generation to every Virginian — factoring in the range of benefits that utilities do not acknowledge when they are proposing big cuts to net metering values.
Learn more about our findings on the Value of Solar landing page.
Dominion Petition to Reduce Net Metering Benefits Threatens Future of Distributed Energy
Public comment opportunity in late 2025 and early 2026
In May 2025, Dominion Energy petitioned the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) to make regulatory changes to “net metering,” a billing arrangement whereby owners of rooftop and other small-scale solar receive a 1:1 credit for the excess energy their systems generate and send back to the grid. This is the fundamental structure that makes solar economically viable and financially accessible to homeowners, farmers and small businesses. However, because it loses profits from distributed energy, Dominion wants to cut that net metering value and severely undermine the benefit and practicality of all distributed generation — all at a time when we are importing more energy than any other state and are projected to need an additional 40-50 gigawatts to accommodate data center growth. Dominion’s case before the State Corporation Commission later this year and in early 2026 will provide an important opportunity to provide public comment. PEC is an intervenor in this case, posing questions and offering additional information that can be used in the SCC’s decision making. We encourage you to submit comments in support of the current net metering rate structure.
For more information about the Value of Solar report or PEC’s energy work, contact Ashish Kapoor at [email protected].