PEC’s Senior Energy & Climate Advisor, Ashish Kapoor, gave a TedX Warrenton talk about three ways to find the radical middle when navigating views across the social and political spectrums.
Watch ‘3 Ways to Find the Radical Middle’ now:
Distributed energy solutions such as small-scale solar (e.g., rooftop, parking lots, brownfields and agrivoltaics) and battery storage can play an important role in helping to Virginia’s energy crisis. There is agreement on the conservation and agricultural benefits of distributed energy, including stabilizing electricity rates, reducing costs for farmers and landowners, employing dual use of land, and more.
Putting the radical middle into practice: Agrivoltaics
Instead of deciding whether land should be used for farming or energy, a farming practice known as agrivoltaics makes it possible to have both.
Agrivoltaics is the process of producing solar energy with solar panels and growing crops on the same plot of land at the same time.
Applying the radical middle principle, agrivoltaics offers a path forward that both farmers and rural communities can get behind. Farmers and rural communities that typically oppose large solar developments often embrace agrivoltaics because it keeps their land in agricultural production while saving on utility bills or adding revenue streams.
PEC is testing a dual-purpose approach that doesn’t force a choice between feeding people and powering our communities. In August 2025, we launched an agrivoltaics project at our Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows. More than simply an experiment, this project could change how Virginia thinks about energy and farming.
Learn more about our agrivoltaics project here →
Applying the ‘radical middle’ principle to legislation
There are three bills currently in front of the General Assembly that would support sources of renewable energy and provide benefits to the environment, ratepayers and farmers:
1. Agrivoltaics – SB340 (Perry) / HB508 (McAuliff)
Would define agrivoltaics (the combination of solar and agricultural production) and convene a stakeholder group to develop recommendations supporting these types of projects, ensuring agricultural producers are part of the process is critical to creating lasting and durable energy solutions in the Commonwealth.
2. Energy Storage – SB448 (Bagby) / HB895 (Sullivan)
Increases storage targets so that the renewables we already have on the ground are more effective and we can decrease new transmission and generation impacts. This bill includes a robust local stakeholder engagement process, so that localities are engaged in developing best practices, and a non-prescriptive model ordinance for storage projects in the Commonwealth. This will help create better, safer projects that serve our localities.
3. Distributed Generation Expansion – SB175 (VanValkenburg) / HB628 (Callsen)
Increases the amount of small-scale solar the utility must build on rooftops, parking lots, landfills and brownfields. This is energy that connects quickly to the grid, supports local Virginia business, and minimizes impacts to conservation values – a combination that most Virginians would support.
4. Distributed Energy Resources Task Force – SB223 (VanValkenburg) / HB285 (Helmer)
The creation of a Distributed Energy Resources (DER) Task Force to advance local, affordable energy. The task force’s balanced membership – state agencies, utilities, DER companies, local governments, energy customers and consumer advocates – ensures broad input to build coherent state strategy for distributed energy growth.