Virginia
Virginia bill to let non-utilities supply offshore wind energy pushed back to 2025 – Virginia Mercury
A bill that would have opened the door for someone other than Dominion Energy to supply Virginia with the remaining amount of offshore wind energy it needs to comply with the Virginia Clean Economy Act won’t be considered until 2025 after senators voted to carry it over to the next session.
The legislation from Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, was backed by multiple major renewable energy companies and would have required the Virginia Department of Energy to conduct a competitive bidding process for non-utility developers to provide that needed amount of electricity.
“I’m worried that we’re not going to meet our goals on alternative energy,” Deeds said in a Jan. 29 meeting of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, which he chairs.
As industry struggles, federal, state offshore wind goals could get tougher to meet
But Deeds chose not to put the bill up for debate, instead saying it could be sent to the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation for consideration.
“I’m pretty good at counting votes, and I just didn’t have the votes to get the bill out of committee,” Deeds told the Mercury. “I am hopeful the CEUR can look at the bill and produce something we can get passed.”
Dominion, however, has said the proposal is a bad idea because buying power from a third-party offshore wind developer could be more expensive than producing the power itself through a utility-owned wind farm like the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project that is under construction.
“Virginia is leading the nation in offshore wind because our regulatory model is working,” said Aaron Ruby, a spokesman for Dominion. “We’re building the largest project in the country, it’s one of the least expensive, and it’s on time and on budget.”
What the bill would do
Under the Virginia Clean Economy Act, a law passed in 2020 that requires the state’s electric grid to decarbonize by 2050, Dominion must propose the construction or purchase of offshore wind facilities capable of producing up to 5.2 gigawatts of electricity by the end of 2035. The utility is currently constructing the 2.6-gigawatt CVOW project to deliver the first tranche of that requirement.
Deeds’ bill would have altered that plan by letting Dominion fulfill its requirements by purchasing energy from a third party that develops offshore wind off Virginia’s coast. It would also have ordered the state Department of Energy to hold a competitive bidding process to secure the remaining 2.6 gigawatts of wind energy Dominion needs to meet its larger target.
That process would occur within three months of the federal government issuing a lease in the Central Atlantic. Dominion would be allowed to enter a bid to supply energy if it acquires another offshore wind lease and constructs its own facility.
The state Department of Energy would select the winning bid within two years of issuing the request for proposals based on construction costs, economic and environmental impacts, and inflation predictions. The State Corporation Commission, Dominion’s regulators, would then approve the winning bid and take over regulatory oversight of the electricity being delivered to Virginia for the project.
“We left that safeguard in place,” said Ken Kimmell, vice president of offshore wind development for renewable energy developer Avangrid, which is developing a wind project off the coast of North Carolina and is one of the backers of Deeds’ bill.
Limited leases
Non-utility wind developers have argued the bill is necessary because limited wind lease areas could prevent Dominion from being able to build new offshore wind projects.
The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management oversees the creation of lease areas where offshore wind can be developed. This July, BOEM finalized the boundaries of three new wind areas in the Mid-Atlantic region: one near the coast of Delaware Bay, another off the coast of Ocean City, Maryland and a third adjacent to Dominion’s CVOW off Virginia Beach. In December, however, the bureau excluded the Maryland site from its proposed list of leases to auction off, saying its development would require “significant costs and mitigation.”
While BOEM said the Maryland area could be part of a potential second lease sale that could occur as early as 2025, the removal of the site from immediate consideration has driven up developer interest in the area off Virginia Beach.
Evan Vaughan, executive director of MAREC Action, a coalition of renewable energy developers backing the bill, said the auction for the area adjacent to CVOW is going to be “hotly contested.” Allowing other companies to compete to supply Virginia with energy from that site, he argued, could help drive down ratepayer costs as developers vie to make their bids more attractive to the state.
“It’s a cost containment mechanism that ultimately will help ensure that Virginia ratepayers get the best deal for offshore wind,” Vaughan said, although he acknowledged that companies would also stand to benefit from the legislation.
Furthermore, he argued, because wind developers can sell electricity in Maryland, the winner of the lease off Virginia Beach could choose to sell the electricity it generates to that state.
“In that case, Dominion literally has no way to meet the VCEA, period, unless they find a way to contract with one of those companies out of their own volition, which up til this point, they haven’t done,” Vaughan said.
A system that’s working?
Dominion in turn has argued there’s no need to fix things that aren’t broken.
“Let’s stick with the model that’s working for future projects,” Ruby said. “It’s the best way to build offshore wind affordably for our customers.”
While the $9.8 billion CVOW is moving forward, he said, other offshore wind projects along the East Coast are facing stiff headwinds, with projected cost increases or cancellations. Meanwhile, Ruby noted the utility recently adjusted CVOW’s levelized cost of electricity — the estimated cost of building and operating an energy facility over its lifetime — from $80 to $90 per megawatt-hour to $77 per megawatt-hour. This August, analysts at BloombergNEF calculated that the levelized cost of electricity for U.S. offshore wind projects had risen almost 50% between 2021 and 2023, to over $114 per megawatt-hour.
“The PPA model is clearly not working,” said Ruby, referring to the power purchase agreements that govern the sale of electricity from non-utilities to energy suppliers. “Many of the PPA projects are either delayed, cancelled, or significantly more expensive than CVOW.”
Dominion also said it’s too early to be worried about not getting the lease and aired concerns that giving oversight of the bid process to the Department of Energy would erode the SCC’s powers, an issue numerous lawmakers, environmental groups and ratepayer advocates have said is detrimental for ratepayers.
Next steps
Deeds never made a formal motion to send his legislation to the CEUR, but he told the Mercury he’s hopeful that the body can look at the bill and produce something “we can get passed.”
Both Vaughan and Kimmell said they are looking forward to continued conversation on the proposal.
“I do think that the Virginia legislative session is short, so there isn’t always time to really get into the detailed consideration of something that’s important like this,” said Kimmell.
Deeds’ proposed process is similar to one laid out in a legislative amendment sought by Gov. Glenn Youngkin last year, although Youngkin’s plan called for Dominion to select the winning bid in consultation with a group including representatives of the Department of Energy. The amendment was overruled by the General Assembly.
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Editor’s note: This is a reprint of a timeless column written years ago by the journalist Eric Newton.
More than a hundred years ago, an 8-year-old girl wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Sun: “Please tell me the truth: is there a Santa Claus?” The answer — “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” — is the most reprinted newspaper editorial of all time, a classic appearing in dozens of languages, in editorials, books and movies, on posters and stamps, even in the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
What makes it endure? Is it because “Yes, Virginia” perpetuates the best traditions of Christmas? Because it touches on the connection between parents and children? Because it makes us long for the days of the great American newspaper? Or is it something more?
The author, Sun editorial writer Francis Pharcellus Church, grumbled a bit when handed the little girl’s letter. “Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus,” wrote Virginia O’Hanlon. “Please tell me the truth …” Something in the innocent query touched the veteran newsman. Church quickly turned in a 500-word reply, printed on Sept. 21, 1897, on Page 6, with no byline.
“Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” Church wrote. “He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.”
The editorial was destined to live on, far beyond Church’s death in 1906; the Sun’s, in 1950; and even Mrs. Virginia O’Hanlon Douglas’ in 1971.
By its 100th anniversary, Church’s gift of words turned into a Christmas treasure for some 200 greeting card companies.
“You couldn’t stop it if you wanted to,” says Richard Church Thompson, a relative of the writer.
Howell Raines, a St. Petersburg (now Tampa Bay) Times alumnus and former executive editor of The New York Times, says the story speaks about generations: “What this child is doing is knocking on the door of the adult world and asking to be let in … and what this editor is doing is protecting her — and his adult readers.”
Crusty newspaper editors have a particularly soft spot for “Yes, Virginia.” The editorial evokes a time when newspapers were the most trusted news medium, when the great American editorial really was the great American editorial. As Virginia put it in her letter: “Papa says ‘If you see it in the Sun it’s so.’ ” But there is more. Church didn’t just spin another yarn about Santa Claus, notes historian William David Sloan. “He gave us a reason for believing.”
“Yes, Virginia” is not merely 100-plus years old; it’s as old as people. It’s not just about a girl in New York; it’s about children everywhere, and grown-ups big enough to remember. It’s not even about Santa; substitute the symbol of your choice. “Yes, Virginia” is about faith, about believing in things you can’t see, about wonder, joy and love.
Santa today is under attack. He’s too commercial, too European, too Christian, too fat, even. But whether you like him or not, let him live. Francis Pharcellus Church did, and we’re toasting him 100 years later. Virginia did, and she grew up to be an educator in New York to teach countless children with special needs about Christmas, newspapers, families, faith.
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“No Santa Claus!” wrote Church. “Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.”
Eric Newton, the former managing editor of the Newseum, is now innovation chief at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Tuesday, September 21, 1897
Dear editor:
I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says “If you see it in the Sun it’s so.” Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
115 West Ninety-Fifth Street
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except (what) they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
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Today, Christmas Eve, we continue our tradition of republishing a 19th century New York editorial writer’s passionate defense of Santa Claus.
The journalist Francis P. Church, a native of Rochester, wrote thousands of editorials for The New York Sun. He is known for just one: an unsigned response to a letter from an 8-year-old girl being teased by her friends for believing in the Jolly Old Elf.
Now as then, Church’s reply to little Virginia O’Hanlon invites us to open our hearts to the mystery, wonder and joy of the season. You can’t help but smile to read:
“Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias.”
We wish you and yours a Merry Christmas.
Dear Editor,
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
115 W. Ninety Fifth St.
Virginia,
Your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
“Is There a Santa Claus?” reprinted from the Sept. 21, 1897, edition of The New York Sun.
About Syracuse.com editorials
Editorials represent the collective opinion of the Advance Media New York editorial board. Our opinions are independent of news coverage. Read our mission statement. Members of the editorial board are Tim Kennedy, Trish LaMonte and Marie Morelli.
To respond to this editorial: Submit a letter or commentary to letters@syracuse.com. Read our submission guidelines.
If you have questions about the Opinions & Editorials section, contact Marie Morelli, editorial/opinion lead, at mmorelli@syracuse.com
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