CONTACT: Jennifer Kefer, Alliance for Industrial Efficiency
202-816-9302 or jennifer@dgardiner.com
ARLINGTON, VA (Feb. 5, 2018) – “Today, Governor Ralph Northam signed into law Senate Bill 966, the 2018 omnibus energy bill. The Alliance for Industrial Efficiency applauds Governor’s Northam’s leadership in supporting SB 966, which takes an important step to increase the use of combined heat and power (CHP) and waste heat to power (WHP) in Virginia. Doing so will make Virginia’s electric grid more efficient and resilient and lower emissions. In particular, SB 966 directs utilities to consider CHP as either a demand-side energy efficiency measure or a supply-side generation alternative in their integrated resource planning process. The bill sets clear efficiency requirements for eligible projects, ensuring that they offer environmental and economic benefits for Virginians.
“CHP is a low-cost option to modernize Virginia’s electric grid by making it more resilient to extreme weather events and reducing emissions. Indeed, because CHP systems can operate independently of the grid, they can keep the lights and power on during extreme weather events. Tremendous potential for CHP exists in Virginia. According to a recent technical potential survey from the Department of Energy, Virginia has the eleventh highest CHP technical potential in the nation (4,308 MW).[1] Yet, deployment lags far behind this potential. To date, Virginia has deployed less than half (40 percent) of its technical potential for CHP.[2] The CHP amendment in SB 966 will increase deployment and help the Commonwealth achieve this large potential for CHP—bringing benefits to the utility, its ratepayers, and the environment.”
[1] United States Dep’t of Energy, 2016, Combined Heat and Power: Technical Potential in the United States, at 90.
[2] Id.
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The Alliance for Industrial Efficiency is a diverse coalition that includes representatives from the contractor, business, labor and academic communities. We are committed to enhancing manufacturing competitiveness and saving energy and money through industrial energy efficiency, particularly in the form of clean and efficient CHP and WHP.
A PDF of the Alliance statement is available here.