Market Signal: the mandate arrives before the projects do

Dominion Energy filed its 2026 integrated resource plan on October 15 with about 3.5GW of battery storage over 20 years, next to 8.9GW of new gas and 21GW of solar. Virginia law requires 16GW of short-duration storage by 2045, with 4GW due by the end of 2030.

The signal Three PJM states in a month where the storage target and the delivery plan do not match. About 50MW of company-owned BESS is operating in Virginia today. The mandates are arriving ahead of the bid-ready projects.

Hiring Third-party developers with PJM queue positions that can reach a PPA will fill most of a 12.5GW gap. Development Managers with PJM Cycle 1 experience, Interconnection Engineers for Dominion's transmission studies, and Origination Leads who can structure utility offtake are the constraint.