How fast is demand growing today in Virginia, and what is Dominion planning for the next five years? 

We’re witnessing the fastest growth in our Virginia service territory since the days after World War II. PJM, the organization coordinating the transportation of wholesale electricity across a 13-state region that includes Virginia, projects annual summer peak demand in our transmission zone to increase by 6.3% annually for the next decade and to more than double by 2045. We’re seeing the projections bear out on the ground. Our 10 highest demand peaks ever all happened in 2025. 

Meeting this demand requires an “all-of-the-above” approach that includes renewables, fossil generation, battery storage, nuclear power plants, and emerging technologies. And that’s our strategy. We plan to invest heavily in power generation, and the wires needed to deliver that power to customers. Our five-year capital plan, covering 2025 through 2029, stands at more than $40 billion for Dominion Energy Virginia. That includes $25 billion worth of regulated grid investments and more than $12 billion of regulated new or modernized generation capacity. 

What kind of challenges does this rapid shift in demand expectations create?  

We need to move as quickly as we can while maintaining reliable and affordable service. Our mission is to provide reliable, affordable, and increasingly clean energy for our customers every day. We have an outstanding reliability record, with customers in Virginia and the Carolinas having power 99.98% of the time, excluding major storms. The biggest challenge we face is to continue that superior level of performance amid soaring demand. 

The bottom line is that we need to build a lot of infrastructure and build it fast. 

One key element in achieving that is making sure that proper public policies support the necessary growth. That’s why I’m glad to see a growing recognition of the need for permitting reform. Regulation is important and ought to be thorough, but the permitting process ought to have a clearly defined beginning and end so we can ensure that all our customers have the power they want, when they want it. 

How do data centers shape Dominion’s choices around supply?  

Data centers are a major portion of our customer base. A decade ago, we were connecting 100 megawatts to 200 megawatts of data center capacity a year. For the past three years, we’ve been connecting a gigawatt of data center capacity annually. Data centers now account for 27% of Dominion Energy Virginia’s demand. 

Data centers are big players, but fundamentally, they don’t change our all-of-the-above strategy — they simply reinforce the need for it. Whether through our Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, located 27 miles off the coast, or the new natural gas peaker plant we’re planning in Chesterfield County, just south of Richmond, we are going to need every electron we can get to meet our customers’ needs. 

What role do you see for nuclear in Virginia going forward? 

Nuclear will continue to play an essential role in powering the state. Right now, it’s the best source of carbon-free, baseload generation we have. Our four reactors in Virginia supply about a third of the state’s electricity and over 80% of its clean energy. They operate safely and reliably, serving as the workhorses of our fleet.  

Looking ahead, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved our applications to extend the licenses for both our Surry and North Anna nuclear power stations, allowing their operations to continue into the middle of the century. We’ve issued a Request for Proposal to leading developers of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) to evaluate the feasibility of developing one at North Anna. We’ve also entered a memorandum of understanding with Amazon to explore innovative development structures that would help advance SMRs in Virginia. And we're in discussions with other companies about making similar arrangements. We need to make sure the technology is commercially viable and that the financial and risk structure works for our customers and shareholders. 

What needs to be done to maintain affordable electricity amid surging demand and rising capacity prices? 

The biggest thing we can do is recognize that electricity obeys not only the laws of physics but also the law of supply and demand. Rising capacity prices reflect the reality that within PJM, companies are retiring so-called dispatchable power plants, which operate whenever called upon, while adding smaller amounts of intermittent renewables. As a result, PJM has warned of potentially decreasing reserve margins for the first time in history. To keep prices down, we need an all-hands-on-deck approach to expanding energy supplies — both natural gas-fueled and renewable — responsibly and quickly.