<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1664891379630,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000172-336d-d668-a372-3bef83ff0002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1664891379630,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000172-336d-d668-a372-3bef83ff0002","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_64891373", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1108747"} }); ","_id":"00000183-a342-d670-a1b3-a3f358470000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedGov. Glenn Youngkin wants his state to repeal a legislative mandate conforming Virginia‘s vehicle standards to California‘s on the basis that it could make a “disastrous combination” in conjunction with an evolving grid.
Youngkin, a Republican, released a 2022 energy plan Monday recommending legislators to reevaluate the Virginia Clean Economy Act, a 2020 law that set deadlines for the state’s utilities to cease generating electricity from fossil fuels and rely on renewable sources such as wind and solar instead, and to cut the link between Virginia’s and California’s air regulations.
The plan also takes aim at a separate Virginia law passed in 2021 that directs state regulators to adopt air quality standards of the California Air Resources Board, which just in August finalized a zero-emission vehicle standard that bans the sale of nonelectric vehicles by 2035. Youngkin’s plan said that such a standard could clash with a phase-down of baseload power generation, or generation from thermal sources such as natural gas or nuclear power, that can be adjusted in concert with demand.
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“Transitioning from baseload generation while attempting to accommodate this increase in electricity demand could be a disastrous combination for Virginia’s grid reliability,” it said.
The energy plan calls for an “all of the above” energy strategy that favors multiple generation sources, from nuclear to renewables and natural gas, rather than a renewable-only strategy.
The plan points to tight energy supply conditions in California and Europe, which have rapidly increased the amount of “intermittent” or variable renewable energy sources on their grids while limiting the expansion of traditional fossil fuel sources, as a cautionary tale.
“During the foreseeable future, intermittent energy generation cannot meet all of our energy needs,” the plan read. “Some of this capability could come from utility scale battery storage, but the reliability, cost, safety, and availability of raw materials to incorporate this technology is at odds with the timeline constraints of the current VCEA requirements.”
California, led by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, and other governments around the world, as well as the Biden administration, have prioritized the build-out of energy sources that do not emit greenhouse gases in order to mitigate climate change.
In Europe, that strategy has largely been based on renewable wind and solar, although a handful of governments intend to build more nuclear power plants. The Biden administration also backs existing and novel nuclear technologies as a means of reducing emissions from the power sector.
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Youngkin’s plan favors nuclear too, with the intention of developing a plan to deploy a small modular nuclear reactor in southwest Virginia within 10 years.
