Virginia advances distributed solar, housing, and data center transparency

Piedmont Environmental Council reports the Virginia General Assembly passed the Distributed Generation Expansion Act and related measures during the 2026 legislative session, advancing rooftop/parking-lot solar, agrivoltaics, battery storage rules, modest data center transparency, and statewide accessory dwelling unit legalization.

• Distributed Generation Expansion Act & energy reforms: Requires Dominion Energy to build 1 gigawatt of solar on “built” environments (e.g., brownfields, parking lots); legislature also passed a bill defining agrivoltaics (signed by Governor Spanberger in June) and enacted battery storage requirements and a subsequent workgroup to define incentives.
• Data centers, budget stalemate & transparency measures: The General Assembly is deadlocked in a budget fight over a $1.9 billion data-center tax exemption; lawmakers passed periodic water usage reports, noise studies near residential areas, a demand-response bill, and utility disclosure requirements for substations/voltage; the legislature will reconvene for a special budget session this month and PEC is seeking a seat on the related state working group.