RICHMOND, NOVEMBER 12, 2024 – On Tuesday, Google and the Virginia Department of Energy hosted a meeting with policymakers, electric utilities, and business leaders to discuss how innovative solutions can help meet Virginia’s growing energy needs. 

The Virginia Grid Innovation Summit honed in on three key themes as part of the vision for the future: 

• emerging technologies that allow Virginia to get more value from its existing energy infrastructure, 
• the need for a diverse portfolio of solutions to meet modern energy demand, and
• innovative regulatory proposals to ensure energy costs remain affordable while enabling continued economic growth in Virginia. 

To support US economic leadership, driven by growth in manufacturing, electrification, and the digital economy, the Summit addressed the need for energy infrastructure investment. These sectors offer economic benefits but require new energy solutions to meet increased power demand.

“Virginia is once again leading when it comes to leveraging technology to meet our growing energy and power needs,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin. “This country has never shied away from a challenge, and Virginia is ready to meet the moment in supporting America’s next era of economic prosperity. The Grid Innovation Summit is bringing together government leaders and global companies to support American infrastructure, which should serve as a model for the rest of the nation.”

At the summit, Dominion Energy Virginia highlighted its innovative grid-enhancing technologies, including new pilot projects deploying dynamic line ratings. These initiatives showcase the company’s commitment to maximizing the potential of existing transmission and distribution systems. By harnessing these innovations, Dominion aims to improve grid reliability and operational flexibility, ultimately leading to significant cost savings for consumers. 

“Along with significant transmission expansion and investments in new power generation, grid enhancing technologies can play an important role in our ‘all of the above’ strategy to reliably serve the growing needs of our customers,” said Ed Baine, President of Dominion Energy Virginia. “We’ve been a leading pioneer on grid enhancing technologies for many years, including advanced conductors, and we continue deploying the latest innovations to enhance reliability and bring more clean energy on the grid. This is an exciting time as we modernize every part of the grid, and Virginia is leading the way.”

“Google and the Virginia Department of Energy are working together to ensure that the private sector can collaborate with all levels of government to efficiently deploy reliable and affordable energy infrastructure,” said Director Glenn Davis of the Virginia Department of Energy.  “Growth in power demand presents a tremendous opportunity to evolve a stronger, more reliable energy system – these investments will both support Virginia’s economy and strengthen our country’s national security. No one entity can tackle this challenge on their own, so bringing everyone to the table is a critical step towards developing the right portfolio of solutions.”

Support for energy efficiency workforce development 

To help grow the needed workforce to support energy efficiency in Virginia, Google announced today a $250,000 contribution for the Virginia Energy Efficiency Council to expand its Energy Efficiency Workforce Initiative (EEWI). This contribution will help the EEWI in its effort to recruit, train, place and retain workers in the Commonwealth’s energy efficiency industry.

“Google’s support for energy efficiency job training comes at a critical time as we ramp up to meet the growing demand for these jobs,” said Chelsea Harnish, Executive Director of the Virginia Energy Efficiency Council.  “Allowing the Council to expand our programs statewide will make a tremendous difference in helping the Commonwealth train and certify the needed energy efficiency workforce of the future.” 

The EEWI uses a holistic approach by aligning existing programs while establishing new partnerships to find, develop and advance the necessary workforce. Through widespread recruitment, hands-on training programs and retention efforts, the EEWI brings in new workers to Virginia’s growing energy economy and helps them thrive throughout their careers. 

Building on Google’s decarbonization journey 

Growth will require enhanced utilization of the existing transmission system, expansion of new transmission infrastructure, and development in a rapidly expanding toolbox of next generation energy technologies to power Virginia’s economic future. 

Google continues to lead progress in the energy transition. The company recently announced the world’s first corporate agreement to purchase nuclear power from small modular reactors with Kairos Power, following a first-of-a-kind agreement earlier this year with NV Energy and Fervo to bring enhanced geothermal technology online. At the same time, Google is piloting new ways to efficiently operate its data centers, including its demand response technology which reduces the amount of power needed during peak periods. 

“Google has exemplified how energy innovation can be used as a critical tool to unlock economic growth,” said Gary Demasi, Global Director of Data Center Energy and Location Strategy at Google. “With support from the Virginia Department of Energy, these industry leaders have come together to collaborate on a broad set of cutting edge solutions which will further cement Virginia’s legacy as a global technology hub and continue to power Virginia forward.” 

Learn more about Google in Virginia at g.co/economicimpact/va.

Media Contact: Ryan McKinnon; ryan@capresults.net