Appalachian Power Seeks 800 MW of Storage, More Than Its Entire 2040 State Mandate
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Marin Holt
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- Total storage sought: 800 MW
- Asset purchase RFP: 500 MW
- Capacity purchase RFP: 300 MW
- Virginia statutory target: 780 MW by 2040
Appalachian Power issued two battery storage requests for proposals on August 17, 2026, seeking up to 800 MW across Virginia and the wider PJM footprint. The utility wants 500 MW through purchase and sale agreements and another 300 MW through capacity purchase agreements. Proposals close on September 30, 2026. Virginia law obliges the company to hold 780 MW of short-duration storage by 2040.
What the Two RFPs Ask For
The first RFP buys assets. Appalachian Power wants a 100 percent equity interest in the project company, and it requires commercial operation no later than December 15, 2030. Projects must sit in Virginia or connect to the utility’s Virginia distribution system.
The second RFP buys capacity under contract instead. It targets 300 MW with commercial operation by December 31, 2030. Both RFPs set a floor of 5 MW per project, and the storage RFP specifies a minimum of 5 MW and 20 MWh. Brian Abraham, president and chief operating officer, said the RFPs help the company build “a well-balanced resource portfolio.”
The Mandate Math
Governor Abigail Spanberger signed House Bill 895 and Senate Bill 448 in April 2026. The pair assigns Appalachian Power 780 MW of short-duration storage by 2040 and 520 MW of long-duration storage by 2045. Statewide targets across both utilities now exceed 20 GW by 2045. Dominion Energy Virginia carries 16,000 MW of short-duration and 4,000 MW of long-duration capacity.
One procurement round therefore covers the whole short-duration obligation, and then some. The 800 MW sought exceeds the 780 MW target by 20 MW. The deadline gap matters more. The statute allows until 2040, and these projects must reach commercial operation in 2030. Appalachian Power is buying its 2040 position ten years early.
Where the Capacity Actually Sits
The two RFPs draw different maps. The 500 MW asset purchase is confined to Virginia. The 300 MW capacity purchase accepts projects anywhere in the PJM region, or interconnected to the utility’s distribution system. A developer in Ohio or Pennsylvania qualifies under the second document.
That distinction decides where the tax base, the construction jobs and the interconnection queue pressure land. Virginia legislated a Virginia storage target. Up to 300 MW of the response is free to sit in another state.
Why It Matters
Developers with Virginia sites and a 2030 commercial operation date have a rare pairing of certainty and scale in this window. The statutory floor removes the usual regulatory risk, because the State Corporation Commission reviews an acquisition the legislature already ordered. The 5 MW minimum also keeps mid-size projects in play, which is unusual at this procurement volume.
For the PJM interconnection queue, the timing compounds an existing problem. Dominion must reach 4,000 MW by the end of 2030 under the same legislation. Two Virginia utilities now chase 2030 commercial operation dates in the same queue, in the same state, against the same shortage of interconnection capacity.
Critical Perspective
The sizing deserves scrutiny. Seeking 800 MW against a 780 MW statutory target suggests the procurement was scaled to the mandate rather than to a resource-adequacy finding. No public document here shows an integrated resource plan concluding that Appalachian Power needs 800 MW of storage operating by 2030.
Sought is also not procured. Both documents say “up to,” which commits the utility to nothing. The company’s own 2026 RFP page carries the same “up to 800 MW” and “up to 300 MW” phrasing for its earlier wind and solar rounds, and the awarded totals from those rounds are not published. Judge this procurement on executed contracts in 2027, not on the RFP headline.
The geography clause undercuts the statute’s apparent intent. Virginia legislators set a Virginia storage target, and the 300 MW capacity purchase accepts any project in PJM. A developer in Ohio satisfies the letter of the obligation while the state gets none of the tax base or the local reliability benefit.
Finally, the 2030 dates across the two Virginia utilities have not been tested against queue reality. Dominion must reach 4,000 MW by December 2030 under the same legislation. Nobody has published an interconnection study showing PJM processes both utilities’ volumes on that timetable.
Sources
- Energy-Storage.News, “US utilities Appalachian Power and 3CE launch RFPs seeking BESS capacity in Virginia, California” (August 19, 2026)
- The Patriot, “APCo seeks proposals for energy storage” (August 17, 2026)
- Appalachian Power, 2026 Energy RFPs
- Williams Mullen, “Virginia Enacts Landmark Energy Storage Expansion Bills”
