Time is running out for Fairfax County homeowners to get a federal tax credit for adopting solar energy.
The reconciliation bill passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump on July 4 will eliminate a residential clean energy credit that lets residential property owners deduct 30% of the cost of installing rooftop solar panels, solar water heaters, geothermal heat pumps and other clean energy systems from their federal income taxes.
Despite objections to one of the projects from nearby residents, the Fairfax County Planning Commission at its July 9 meeting approved Dominion Energy’s requests for two new electrical substations to support future data centers in the Dulles area.
A 300-megawatt Towerview substation will be wedged between Sully Road (Route 28) and Park Center Road in the Floris neighborhood, just east of Dulles International Airport. Dominion will lease the site from the owner of the Dulles Gateway data center, which is being constructed immediately to its south.
Fairfax County and an energy developer have begun the process of converting part of a closed landfill site in Lorton into a solar array.
The county’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES) and Madison Energy Infrastructure will officially break ground at 10 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday), on the 5-Megawatt Solar Array Project — though officials connected to the project told FFXnow work on the site actually started weeks ago.
Reston Town Center is now deriving some of its power from the sun.
A 1.3-megawatt solar photovoltaic system mounted on top of the town center’s green parking garage was substantially completed at the end of 2024 and began commercial operations on Tuesday (May 27).
Fairfax County is proposing new zoning regulations for utility substations that could limit where they can be built and impose stricter standards on projects near residential neighborhoods.
The draft amendments, discussed at a Board of Supervisors Land Use Policy Committee meeting on Tuesday (Jan. 28), aim to address community concerns about the noise and industrial appearance of substations, while accommodating the region’s growing energy needs, zoning administrative staff said.
More than a year after it launched, Fairfax County’s program to help neighborhoods introduce communal electric vehicle charging stations has resulted in its first installations.
County officials joined residents of the Harpers Square cluster in Reston on Dec. 18 for a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the addition of two EV chargers, making it the first community to successfully get through the Charge Up Fairfax program.
Fairfax County is stepping up efforts to meet its carbon neutrality goals with new programs and tools to help residents go green, starting next year.
First outlined in May, the three-part plan includes a public awareness campaign, a climate action tracking app and a home energy advisory service to help residents transition to clean energy and reduce their carbon footprints.
Nearly a third of Virginia’s data centers are located within 200 feet of residential areas, with Fairfax County leading the state, according to a new report released Monday (Dec. 9) by the Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC).
Assessing the impact of data centers throughout Virginia, the JLARC report found that 55% of Fairfax County’s 20 data centers are within 200 feet of residential zones, and 70% are within 500 feet.
In a bid to upgrade its electric vehicle infrastructure, Fairfax County is turning to the federal government for a little extra support.
The Board of Supervisors approved a board matter on July 30 directing staff to join U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) new “Charging Smart” pilot program, which offers free technical assistance to help local governments in eight states, including Virginia, expand EV charging infrastructure “efficiently and equitably.”
The regional electric grid that supplies power to Virginia during times of extreme weather announced a 1,400% increase in some electric costs after its most recent capacity auction. But Dominion officials were quick to assure customers that they would not see an increase in their bills before the end of next year.
PJM Interconnection, which oversees the electric grid serving several mid-Atlantic states, including Virginia, announced the increase for its capacity market. Dominion buys electricity off of capacity markets during peak, or emergency, demands.
