As data centers drive electricity demand to new heights and consumers struggle with rising energy costs, cheap, clean power remains out of reach in much of Virginia: Nearly two-thirds of counties outright ban or severely restrict large solar farms.

But that’s about to change.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, last week enacted a new law that voids community-wide prohibitions on solar fields and establishes new siting guidelines for the facilities. Starting July 1, when the law takes effect, local governments can still deny permits to solar developers but must submit their rationale for doing so to state regulators.

“Localities still are in the driver’s seat here. They can still deny every project from now until the end of time if they want,” said Evan Vaughan, executive director of the Mid-Atlantic Renewable Energy Coalition, a nonprofit that represents over 50 large-scale solar, storage, and wind developers and manufacturers.

But, he added, given rising prices and pressures on farmers from tariffs and fertilizer shortages, ​“there may be more interest in rural communities to see solar projects and to at least hear them out about the benefits that they can provide.”

Virginia is fertile ground for large-scale solar.

The state requires its largest utilities to produce 100% renewable energy by 2050, and solar — combined with battery storage — is widely viewed as the lowest-cost way to meet that mandate. Solar arrays can be built more quickly than large gas power plants, making the carbon-free resource a vital way to meet growing energy demand in the state, which is the data center capital of the world. Solar is also insulated from the price volatility inherent to natural gas because it requires only the sun for fuel.

Even with widespread limitations on development, Virginia is No. 9 in the nation in installed solar capacity and gets almost 10% of its electricity from the clean energy source. Nationwide, solar and storage together are set to make up nearly 80% of new utility-scale electricity capacity built in the country this year, per U.S. Energy Information Administration data.

“Affordability is key,” Vaughan said. ​“Predictability is also key.”

Though the new law is no silver bullet, it’s been long sought by the renewables industry and by state Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, a Democrat who represents the Richmond suburbs and is one of its sponsors.

VanValkenburg promoted similar bills in 2024 and 2025, starting with a simpler proposal that prohibited solar bans but didn’t contain siting criteria. He spent two years negotiating with fellow lawmakers, conservationists, and others to craft the new law.

“This milestone has been years in the making,” VanValkenburg said in a statement, ​“and is the product of close collaboration among bill patrons, solar developers, and environmental advocates.”

The proposal cleared both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly in March. Rather than sign it as passed, Spanberger offered two technical amendments to the measure earlier this month. The General Assembly, which Democrats seized after campaigning on energy costs last November, adopted those changes on April 22.

The measure isn’t without detractors. It passed along party lines, and drew opposition from county governments and the state’s Farm Bureau as it moved through the legislature. Two conservation groups — Friends of the Rappahannock, a river protection group, and The Piedmont Environmental Council — also voiced worry about the law’s approach.

Virginia’s move to expand solar comes as local restrictions on renewable energy proliferate nationwide. Farmland has become a particular flash point for opposition to solar development, as the flat open fields often make prime spots for solar panels.

Vaughan is optimistic that the law will unleash more solar power sooner rather than later. Though the statute won’t be on the books until this summer, some developers may have plans to apply for connection to the PJM grid this week.

“This has been pretty clearly heading for passage for a while,” Vaughan said. ​“That may have sent folks to take a risk and propose projects in parts of Virginia that were not previously viable. There may be some low-hanging fruit from an interconnection standpoint.”

He added, ​“I have no special knowledge of that. I’ll be waiting with bated breath to see what happens.”

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Elizabeth Ouzts

is a contributing reporter at Canary Media who covers North Carolina and Virginia.