Solar Legislative Update

As some of you are aware, the West Virginia Environmental Council has been collaborating with West Virginians for Energy Freedom to enact legislation that would allow renewable energy to be widely available. Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) allow for third-party financing, ownership, and maintenance for a distributed energy system on your property. In fact, 26 states, including Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, and Georgia allow PPAs, but they are NOT currently available in West Virginia. Allowing PPAs would benefit nonprofits, schools, municipalities, commercial business, manufacturers, and YOU through lower energy bills and tax credits. PPAs would benefit West Virginia by allowing us to choose how we generate our electricity. Additionally it would expand economic development in our state; creating high-paying local jobs and attracting major corporations. Our lobbying team is working hard to make this a shining reality! Below are our updates for the 2019 Legislative Session:   

Senate: Good news! Our bill has been introduced, you can read it here. Currently, it has to go through two committees, Energy, Industry, and Mining as well as Finance. We are hopeful that this bill will make it to the floor, as it has bipartisan support. We would like to thank Senator Rucker for sponsoring this bill, and Senators Hamilton, Lindsay, Plymale, Prezioso, Smith, Sypolt, Trump, and Baldwin for signing onto this bill as well. Do not be hesitant to thank them for supporting SB409, and help pass it through! You can find their information here. 

House: As of right now, a bill is being drafted to run on the House Side. We are actively recruiting sponsors for the bill and informing our representatives of the benefits that PPAs provide. A bipartisan list of sponsors is crucial before we proceed, as that will make the legislative process much easier on our bill. We believe we will have news to report on next week, so stay tuned!