Bill Text: VA HB405 | 2022 | Regular Session | Prefiled
Bill Title: Business park electric transmission infrastructure pilot program; location of qualifying projects.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 5-0)
Status: (Passed) 2022-04-08 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0216) [HB405 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2022-HB405-Prefiled.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §56-585.1:10 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§56-585.1:10. (Expires December 31, 2023) Pilot program for transmission facilities serving business parks.
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership shall conduct a
pilot program within the certificated service territory of each investor-owned
electric utility other than a utility described in subsection G of §56-580
(Pilot Utility) for the purpose of promoting economic development in areas of
the Commonwealth designated as an
opportunity zone listed by the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury via his
delegation of authority to the Internal Revenue Service.
The pilot program shall allow any Pilot Utility to complete the construction
phase of a transmission line and associated substation to provide the electric
infrastructure to a business park, as defined in §56-576, located in an opportunity zone within
the Pilot Utility's certificated service territory where investments by a locality or an industrial
development authority,
or a similar political subdivision of the Commonwealth created pursuant to §
15.2-4903 or other act of the General Assembly, in the siting, environmental
review, pre-engineering design, and transmission right-of-way acquisition have
been made prior to the public announcement of a prospective occupant of the
business park. Each pilot program shall be subject to the following terms,
conditions, and restrictions:
1. As used in this
section, "opportunity zone" means areas of the Commonwealth
designated as a qualified opportunity zone by the U.S. Secretary of the
Treasury via his delegation of authority to the Internal Revenue Service.
2.
The costs incurred by the Pilot Utility after January 1, 2019, to construct,
operate, and maintain transmission lines and associated substations installed
in order to provide service to a business park participating in the pilot
program shall be recovered by the Pilot Utility pursuant to a rate adjustment
clause approved by the Commission in subdivision A 4 of §56-585.1.
3. 2. Qualifying
projects shall have revenue sharing agreements between two or more localities.
4. 3. Each
individual qualifying project shall be less than seven miles in length.
5. 4. The role of
the Virginia Economic Development Partnership in conducting the pilot program
is to certify that up to three petitions within the certificated service
territory of each Pilot Utility addresses the eligibility criteria for
participation in the pilot program set forth in §56-576 and in this section.