VACo County Pulse Podcast

In this episode of the Uplifting Our Children Through Education series, Host Jeremy Bennett sits down with County Administrator Carol Steele and Deputy County Administrator Maria Calloway of Gloucester County to discuss the county’s school construction journey—from the local sales-tax referendum to planning, community engagement, and delivering modern learning spaces. Hear how Gloucester aligned vision, funding, and partnerships to...

Energy Landscape of Virginia Episode 20 | The Convergence of Farming with Solar: What is Agrivoltaics? 

Joe Lerch talks with Rachel Henley, Working Lands and State Advocacy Specialist with the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation to explore how farms and solar installations can coexist and what the term “Agrivoltaics” means within this context.

Where to find out more about topics covered in this episode

• 4 The Soil - initiative of the V...

Episode 19 – Balancing Demand and Supply in the Regional Electric Grid – Discussion with PJM Interconnection. Joe Lerch talks with Jason Stanek, Executive Director of State Government Policy with PJM Interconnection the Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) for 13 states and the District Columbia in which Virginia’s electric utilities are members. They discuss the role PJM plays in generation and transmission of electricity and ...

State and Local Housing Policy – Comparison of Maryland and Virginia with MACo Conduit Street Podcast.

Joe Lerch talks with Dominic Butchko, Director of Intergovernmental Relations with the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) to discuss housing policy and legislation with our neighbors to the North. Listeners to episode 17 of our Energy Landscape of Virginia series will recognize this as part 2 of our foray into comparing how th...

Joe Lerch talks with Dominic Butchko, Director of Intergovernmental Relations with the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) to compare both the differences and similarities between Maryland and Virginia when it comes to energy and its intersection with county land use and local authority. With a focus on state legislative policy and action, we delve into issues of utility-scale generation, energy storage, transmission, and the g...

Energy Landscape of Virginia Episode 11 | Nuclear Power, Small Modular Reactors, and Fusion 

In 2023 nuclear power produced approximately one-third of all power from Virginia sources while representing only 12 percent of all generation capacity in the Commonwealth. Dominion Energy operates Virginia’s four nuclear units in plants located in Louisa and Surry counties, each with a capacity of more than 900 megawatts in generation. Each...

Energy Landscape of Virginia Episode 10 | Harvesting Excess Heat from Data Centers for Energy – District Energy Systems

District Energy Systems are a proven engineering solution that conveys heat between suppliers and users, between or among buildings. Excess heat generated by the multitude of data centers located Virginia provides an opportunity to supply heat to adjoining uses, thereby reducing overall energy consumption within wh...

Joe Lerch talks with Aaron Berryhill, Solar Program Manager with Virginia Department of Energy on the latest numbers in Virginia for solar installations. We cover a wide range of sources that inform how much utility-scale, community-scale, and rooftop solar has been installed in the Commonwealth.

For information and assistance contact:

Aaron Berryhill
Solar Program Manager
Virginia Department of Energy
aaron.berryhill@...

Joe Lerch and VACo Executive Director Dean Lynch provide an update on the status of legislation relating to Data Centers and Utility-Scale Solar.

Where to find out more about topics covered in this episode

• JLARC "Data Centers in Virginia" Report
  
  
• HB 1601/SB 1449 – Siting of Data Centers; Site Assessment
  
  
• House Budget Amendment – Extends the sunset date for sales tax exemption for data centers from 2035 t...

“Data Centers in Virginia” JLARC Report – Interview with Mark Gribbin

In this episode we sit down with Mark Gribbin, Chief Legislative Analyst with the  Joint Legislative Audit Review Commission (JLARC). He is the project leader for JLARC’s “Data Centers in Virginia” report, which was released December 9th. We go over a summary of the report’s findings regarding the economic benefits to Virginia, as well as what challenges lay ahead...

Joe Lerch and VACo Executive Director Dean Lynch provide an update on solar industry lobbying efforts to preempt local authority on siting of utility-scale facilities and what VACo and its members will be doing to ensure this does not happen.

Where to find out more about topics covered in this episode

• Commission on Electric Utility Regulation Meeting Page (see 11/26/2024 and click “Materials” for drop down menu)
• Proposed Legislati...

Part 2. After learning about the opportunities for repurposing abandoned mine land for data centers in our 1st part with Will Clear and Will Payne, we visit with Mike Hatfield and Natalie Chapman from Wise County to expand on this conversation and take a tour of the future site of Data Center Ridge.

Where to find out more about topics covered in this episode

• Data Center Ridge – Energy DELTA Lab
• Mineral Gap Data Center
• Lonesome Pine...

Draft Revisions to DEQ Solar Permit-By-Rule (PBR) Regulations – HB 206

This episode reviews regulations that amend the requirements for utility-scale solar installations to receive state permits to operate. Specifically, a 2022 law – commonly referred to as HB 206 - requires that applicants must avoid, minimize or otherwise mitigate certain losses to prime farmland and forests in order to get approval. In a conversation with Jonatha...

Utility-Scale Solar – Legislative Outlook with Dean Lynch

In the first of a 2-part episode, Joe Lerch sits down with VACo Executive Director Dean Lynch to discuss the big picture on state energy policy related to solar and recent attempts to preempt local authority on siting of facilities. Central to this discussion is the passage in 2020 of Virginia Clean Economy Act which sets certain targets for deployment of utility-scale solar ...

Utility-Scale Solar – Erosion Control and Stormwater with Mike Rolband

In Part 2 of our episode on Utility-Scale Solar, Joe Lerch sits down with Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Director Mike Rolband to focus on issues related to erosion control and stormwater management. We learn about widespread and significant impacts due to developers not adhering to minimum requirements to prevent soil loss and runoff pollutio...