WASHINGTON — Dominion Virginia Power parent company Dominion Energy is investing $1 billion in its solar fleet in Virginia and North Carolina, and now ranks among utilities with the largest solar portfolios, either operating or under development.
The Solar Energy Industries Association ranks Dominion Energy the sixth largest among U.S. electric utilities.
Over the past two years, Dominion Energy’s solar projects have grown to 1,350 megawatts in service, in construction or under development. Dominion Energy said that is enough to power 340,000 homes during peak sunshine.
In Virginia, Dominion Energy has 27 solar generating facilities covering nearly 4,700 acres either in operation or under development.
Dominion has several high-profile solar projects in the works, including one to power Facebook’s $750 million data center in Henrico County and a partnership with Amazon Web Services to sell power produced by two of the largest solar farms in the mid-Atlantic that Dominion will develop.
“More and more companies have set their own goals for renewable energy and we will back them,” said Pail Koonce, president and CEO of Dominion Energy’s Power Generation Group. “Our programs are intended to meet their needs and help strengthen Virginia’s reputation as the ideal place to do business.”
In addition to projects in Virginia, the company has 13 projects totaling 353 MW either online or scheduled to be in service by 2019 in North Carolina.
Dominion said during construction, its solar projects have to date created 4,300 jobs in Virginia and North Carolina.
