Dominion Plans 3.5 GW of Storage Against Virginia’s 16,000 MW Target, Says the Full-Storage Case Costs $6.3 Billion More
- Preferred Plan new storage: 3.5 GW
- Virginia short-duration storage target by 2045: 16,000 MW
- Full-storage case extra cost (20-year NPV): $6.3 billion
- Preferred Plan new gas: 8,965 MW
Dominion Energy filed its 2026 integrated resource plan on October 15, with a full plan in North Carolina and an update in Virginia. The Company Preferred Plan adds 3.5 GW of new energy storage over 20 years. A Virginia law signed this year tells Dominion to petition for 16,000 MW of short-duration storage by 2045, including 4,000 MW by the end of 2030.
The filing also models a Forced Full Storage Portfolio that builds 14.5 GW of storage. Dominion says that case costs approximately $6.3 billion more on a 20-year net present value basis. It adds approximately $15 to $16 a month to a residential bill at the 10- and 20-year marks.
What the Preferred Plan Builds
The Preferred Plan adds 39.2 GW in total. It builds over 21 GW of solar and an additional 8.9 GW of gas-fired assets. It also adds 3.4 GW of offshore wind and three sets of small modular reactors starting in 2042.
The storage number comes from a modeling choice. Dominion included only the storage that is not subject to more Commission review, which is the amount petitioned by 2030. The model then picked the rest on a least-cost basis. The totals count only new resources. Existing and recently approved projects sit outside them.
The Southern Environmental Law Center read the result as a shortfall. Its October 16 statement says Dominion “plans to build just 3 gigawatts of battery storage.” It says the new law requires nearly five times that amount by 2045.
The Price of the Full-Storage Case
The Forced Full Storage Portfolio pre-programs the 4 GW petitioned by 2030. It then adds 12 GW of short-duration storage and 4 GW of long-duration storage by 2045, less some behind-the-meter and grid transformation capacity. Beside the storage, the portfolio still requires 21.5 GW of solar, 3.4 GW of wind, 7 GW of natural gas and 1.3 GW of nuclear.
Its construction capital is approximately $112.5 billion. That is approximately $21 billion more than the Preferred Plan.
The law leaves room for the targets to move. The long-duration target takes effect only after the State Corporation Commission finds the technology viable. The SCC must rule by March 1, 2031. In the same case it must review the short-duration targets and has the power to adjust them.
Load, Bills and PJM
The Virginia Mercury reports that the filing expects annual load growth of roughly 4%, or 500 to 700 megawatts, with demand doubling by 2045. Dominion bought approximately 20% to 23% of the energy it served from the market from 2021 through 2025. The filing says the 2028/2029 PJM capacity auction left committed capacity more than 6,800 MW below the reliability requirement.
For a Virginia home that uses 1,000 kWh a month, Dominion projects a bill of $258.03 at year-end 2036, up from $180.31 on October 1, 2026. The method the SCC directs gives $320.26 for the same year. Dominion says that method overstates bills because it assumes no sales growth.
The filing names projected data center use as a key driver of the demand forecast. The Center Square reports that a scenario limited to data centers with completed electric service agreements needs about 4,949 MW of new gas, against 8,965 MW in the Preferred Plan, and no new nuclear. Virginia regulators have already ordered Dominion to charge data centers directly for connection infrastructure.
Why It Matters
The IRP is not a request to approve projects. It still puts Dominion’s own price on the storage law in front of the SCC. The utility’s own numbers put the gap between its plan and the full-storage case at $6.3 billion and $15 to $16 a month for a household. Storage developers in the Dominion zone should watch the 2031 review. That is where the SCC decides whether the short-duration target stands as written.
Critical Perspective
The Preferred Plan adds 3.5 GW of new storage. The Forced Full Storage case adds 14.5 GW for about $6.3 billion more over 20 years. The smaller number comes from a modeling rule, not a cost test. The plan counts only storage that the SCC will not review again, so the 2031 ruling holds most of the 16,000 MW target. The Southern Environmental Law Center calls the result “just 3 gigawatts” against a law that asks for nearly five times that. Dominion also says the 2028/2029 PJM auction left committed capacity more than 6,800 MW short. If the region is that short, why does the plan treat more storage as a cost case and not as a capacity answer?
Sources
- Dominion Energy, 2026 Integrated Resource Plan (filed October 15, 2026)
- Energy-Storage.news, Dominion Energy files IRP with plans to build 3.5GW of BESS in PJM (October 20, 2026)
- Virginia Mercury report on Dominion’s 2026 IRP update (October 19, 2026)
- The Center Square report on Dominion’s 2026 IRP update (October 19, 2026)
- Southern Environmental Law Center, Customers deserve better than Dominion’s dirty energy vision (October 16, 2026)
