Dive Brief:
- Dominion Resources is selling its retail electric supply business to focus on its regulated utility operations and utility-scale solar.
- Utility-scale solar offers more stable long-term returns than the competitive supply business, company officials said. The Richmond, Virginia-based company expects to add 250 MW of solar by 2016.
- “Weather-normalized” electric sales at Virginia Power, a Dominion subsidiary, jumped 1.3% last year and the company expects sales to climb 1.5% this year. Dominion expects about half of the growth to come from data centers.
Dive Insight:
In part, Dominion is focusing on solar because it will give the company tax benefits. Dominion will only build solar projects that have long-term power purchase agreements, providing a revenue stream to back up the investments.
Dominion Energy Services sells electricity and natural gas to more than one million homes and businesses in nine Mid-Atlantic, Northeast and Midwest states. Dominion expects to sell its electric supply business in several months.
