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The Voice of the

Commonwealth's Counties

Senate municipal renewable energy bill advances

SB 1779 (Ebbin), Senator Adam Ebbin’s municipal net metering bill, successfully reported out of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee on January 28 by a unanimous vote.

Sb 1779, the Senate counterpart to Delegate Kathy Tran’s HB 2792 (Tran), establishes a six-year pilot program that allows a locality to use excess energy generated by a renewable energy project to be credited towards electric bills for other municipal accounts.  Under the program a county could install solar panels or wind turbines “… located on airports, landfills, parking lots, parks, post-mine land, or a reservoir that is owned, operated, or leased by the municipality” and use excess energy generated at the facility to be credited to other metered accounts. The result will be a reduction in the amount of electricity for which the county is billed by the utility.

SB 1779 now be heard on the Senate floor and will likely be voted on later this week.  HB 2792 will likely be heard in the House Commerce and Labor Committee meeting on Thursday, January 31.

VACo Contacts: Chris McDonald, Esq. and Joe Lerch, AICP

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