Friends of Nelson’s Guide to the Virginia Energy Plan Stakeholder Survey

The Governor's Office is seeking public input to help shape Virginia's next Energy Plan. Friends of Nelson encourages members to complete the survey and share their own perspectives. Some of the survey questions are broad and technical, so to make it easier to participate, we've prepared this guide with sample responses based on the issues we've been tracking through our Wires & Water Updates. We encourage you to use these suggestions as a starting point and personalize your responses whenever possible. Surveys are generally more effective when people express similar ideas in their own words and include local examples or experiences.

Find the Virginia Energy Plan Survey Here.

Q3. Which priorities are most important?

Why we suggest this: These priorities emphasize meeting growing electricity demand while protecting rural communities, natural resources, and keeping electricity affordable. Energy efficiency and demand management are often the lowest-cost ways to improve reliability, while responsible siting helps avoid conflicts before they occur.

Suggested selections

Most Important

• Energy efficiency & weatherization

• Managing energy demand & peak use

• Electric-generating resources

• Distributed energy resources & storage

• Fuel supply, diversity & energy security

• Siting, land-use planning & environmental mitigation

• Agricultural & rural energy solutions

More Important

• Transmission & distribution infrastructure

• Advanced & emerging technologies

• Transportation electrification

• Workforce development

Q4. Additional priorities

Why we suggest this: Virginia's energy future should balance reliability and affordability with responsible stewardship of natural resources and meaningful community involvement.

Suggested response

Virginia's energy plan should balance reliability, affordability, economic growth, and environmental stewardship. As electricity demand grows, particularly from large industrial users such as data centers, planning should prioritize energy efficiency, demand management, responsible siting, protection of water resources and farmland, grid resilience, and meaningful engagement with local communities so infrastructure investments provide long-term public benefit.

Q5. What barriers should be addressed?

Why we suggest this: Many energy challenges stem from planning, coordination, and public engagement - not just technology. Considering environmental and community impacts early, including water availability, air emissions, noise, and cumulative impacts, helps communities participate meaningfully before major decisions are made.

Suggested selections

• Capital cost or financing

• Interconnection delays

• Transmission or distribution constraints

• Public acceptance or trust

• Unclear roles among state, local, federal, utility, and private-sector actors

Other: Better evaluation of environmental and community impacts, including water availability, air quality, noise, natural resources, and cumulative impacts.

Q6. Most important energy-related challenges

Why we suggest this: Virginia's growing electricity demand should be addressed through proactive planning that protects communities and natural resources while maintaining reliable, affordable power.

Suggested response

Virginia must meet rapidly growing electricity demand while keeping energy affordable, maintaining grid reliability, and protecting water resources, farmland, forests, and local communities. Planning should ensure that large new loads, including data centers, are matched with appropriate infrastructure investments and that local governments have meaningful input into siting decisions.

Q7. Top opportunities

Why we suggest this: Investing in efficiency, modernizing the grid, and improving planning can reduce costs, improve reliability, and lessen unnecessary impacts on communities.

Suggested response

Invest first in energy efficiency, demand management, grid modernization, distributed energy resources, and storage to reduce unnecessary infrastructure expansion. Improve long-term planning for transmission and generation, encourage innovation, and ensure major energy investments are coordinated with responsible land-use planning, water availability, and community engagement.

Q8. Top affordability priorities

Why we suggest this: As Virginia invests in new infrastructure, keeping electricity affordable for households and businesses should remain a top priority.

Suggested selections

• Electricity bills

• Upfront costs for energy efficiency or clean energy upgrades

• Utility fees or riders

Q9. Why?

Why we suggest this: Smart long-term planning and energy efficiency can help reduce costs while ensuring infrastructure investments provide lasting public value.

Suggested response

Virginians need reliable and affordable electricity while avoiding unnecessary increases in utility costs. Investments in energy efficiency can lower bills over the long term, and major infrastructure investments should be carefully planned so costs are reasonable, transparent, and provide lasting public benefit.

Q10. Which communities deserve particular attention?

Why we suggest this: Rural communities often experience the impacts of new transmission lines and other energy infrastructure while having fewer resources to participate in planning. Other vulnerable communities should also have meaningful opportunities to shape energy decisions.

Suggested selections

• Low-income households

• Rural communities

• Tribal communities

• Schools, local governments, or public agencies

• Small businesses

• Communities with existing or proposed energy infrastructure projects

• Communities with high energy burdens

• Historically economically disadvantaged communities

• Coastal or flood-prone communities

Q11. Why these groups?

Why we suggest this: Energy investments should benefit all Virginians while minimizing disproportionate impacts on communities that bear the greatest costs.

Suggested response

These communities often experience the greatest impacts from energy costs, infrastructure development, and reliability challenges. Virginia's Energy Plan should ensure that the benefits and burdens of energy investments are shared fairly while protecting public health, natural resources, and local economies.

Q12. Siting, land use & local impacts

Why we suggest this: Responsible siting protects drinking water, farmland, forests, wildlife, scenic landscapes, and historic resources while reducing conflicts and improving project outcomes.

Suggested response

Virginia should prioritize responsible siting that protects drinking water supplies, rivers and streams, forests, farmland, wildlife habitat, historic and cultural resources, and scenic landscapes. Energy infrastructure should be planned to minimize cumulative impacts on communities, respect local land-use decisions, and provide meaningful public engagement early in the planning process. Infrastructure should be located where existing capacity can be used whenever practical, reducing unnecessary impacts to undeveloped areas.

Q13. Fuel supply & energy security

Why we suggest this: A diverse energy portfolio improves reliability and resilience while reducing dependence on any single fuel source or technology.

Suggested response

Virginia should maintain a diverse and reliable energy portfolio while reducing dependence on any single fuel source or technology. Long-term planning should consider growing electricity demand, regional reliability, fuel diversity, energy storage, demand management, and resilience to extreme weather and other disruptions.

Q14. Regional cooperation

Why we suggest this: Better coordination among Virginia, PJM, utilities, and local governments can improve planning while ensuring local concerns are considered before major investments are made.

Suggested response

Virginia should continue working with PJM and neighboring states to improve regional planning, transmission coordination, and grid reliability while ensuring that the costs and benefits of major infrastructure investments are allocated fairly. The Commonwealth should strengthen early coordination among PJM, utilities, state agencies, local governments, and the public by providing plain-language, accessible information about projected energy needs, infrastructure planning, and potential community impacts. Communities should have meaningful opportunities to participate before transmission routes, major infrastructure projects, or other key decisions are developed so local knowledge and priorities can help shape - not simply respond to - future proposals.

Q15. Risks or unintended impacts

Why we suggest this: Looking at projects individually can overlook broader impacts on water resources, ratepayers, and communities.

Suggested response

Virginia should consider the long-term impacts of rising electricity demand on affordability, water resources, natural habitats, farmland, forests, public health, and local communities. Infrastructure investments should avoid creating unnecessary costs for ratepayers, respect local land-use decisions, and account for cumulative impacts rather than evaluating projects in isolation.

Q16. Existing studies, programs, or policies

Why we suggest this: Existing planning efforts provide valuable information and should be better coordinated rather than duplicated.

Suggested response

Virginia should consider lessons from PJM's long-term load forecasting and transmission planning, the Virginia State Corporation Commission's reviews of utility resource plans and transmission projects, and local comprehensive plans that address land use, conservation, and community development. These demonstrate the importance of coordinating regional energy planning with local decision-making.

Q17. Additional feedback

Why we suggest this: Better planning begins before projects are proposed. Early collaboration and cumulative-impact analysis can help identify better solutions while building public trust.

Suggested response

The Energy Plan should require long-term planning that better links projected electricity demand with generation, transmission, water availability, and local land-use planning. It should include a framework for evaluating the cumulative impacts of large new electricity loads on water resources, electric rates, transmission needs, natural resources, and host communities. The Plan should also establish a formal early-engagement process that brings local governments, residents, Tribal Nations, utilities, and other stakeholders into planning before transmission routes, major generation projects, or other infrastructure proposals are developed, allowing community input to meaningfully inform planning rather than occur after key decisions have already been made. Regional planning meetings and public stakeholder advisory groups should be established during the earliest stages of demand forecasting and infrastructure planning so local knowledge can help identify constraints, sensitive resources, and better alternatives before projects are proposed.

Guide put together by Erin Palmquist for Friends of Nelson