NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy on Sept. 14 added a Virginia supplier program worth up to $5 billion and plans for a new Richmond office tower to the benefits they say would result from their proposed $67 billion merger.
The expanded package comes after Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) formally intervened in the state’s regulatory review, saying she was “deeply skeptical” that the acquisition would benefit Virginia, while lawmakers and local governments have raised concerns about rates, jobs and other effects of the combination. The companies said the package responds directly to feedback from policymakers and other stakeholders.
The companies said they would use their combined purchasing scale to bring suppliers, vendors and engineering and construction companies to the state and work with the Port of Virginia to expand the energy supply chain.
The companies did not specify, however, how much of the proposed supplier spending would be incremental to existing or planned procurement or how much would go specifically to construction and engineering. Additional commitments are also subject to filing and approval by the Virginia State Corporation Commission.
ENR reported in May that NextEra agreed to acquire Dominion in a mostly stock deal that would create the largest U.S. electricity producer, with about 10 million customer accounts.
“We would build, at shareholder expense, a new core tower adjacent to Dominion Energy’s existing tower in downtown Richmond,” NextEra chairman, president and CEO John Ketchum and Dominion chairman, president and CEO Robert Blue wrote in a Sept. 14 Washington Post op-ed. “We would also add 600 new NextEra Energy jobs in Virginia, and suppliers are expected to contribute an additional 400 jobs.”
Richmond TV station WWBT reported that the proposed tower would represent a $700 million investment. The building is slated for 700 E. Canal St., a domain-owned site where the company demolished its former One James River Plaza building in 2020 and later abandoned plans for a second headquarters tower. The companies have not disclosed the size of the new tower, the construction schedule or the project team.
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The companies also pledged to maintain the number of existing Virginia employees for five years. Richmond would house renewable energy development and supply chain functions, battery storage operations, and small nuclear and modular reactor work.
Cross-sectional diagrams show the geologic layers of the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, one of the largest groundwater systems in Texas that stretches from East Texas to the Mexican border. The formation supplies municipal, agricultural and industrial water to 66 counties.
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Nine suppliers and other partners intend to establish or expand Virginia operations if the merger is approved, according to the companies. A slide deck identifies a global engineering, procurement and construction partner, manufacturing partner and developer of energy technology and artificial intelligence among the companies.
The package also includes a $100 million workforce development fund for vocational training and apprenticeships. The companies identified linemen, pipefitters, millwrights, power plant operators, boilermakers and laborers among the skilled trades the effort would target.
NextEra and Dominion also said the combined company would use its supply chain and construction platform to accelerate the development of solar, battery storage, dispatchable generation and nuclear resources in Virginia, in part to reduce Dominion Energy Virginia’s reliance on imported power.
“Virginia shouldn’t have to choose between affordability, reliability and clean energy,” Blue said in the Sept. 14 announcement. “The answer is to build affordably, build faster and build in a way that protects customers.”
Virginia Press for Protections officials
The revised package would double the previously proposed $10 residential bill credits from two years to four, in part by redirecting credits that would otherwise go to large data centers to residential customers and increasing Virginia’s total shareholder-funded credit. The companies would also add $100 million through 2038 to Dominion’s shareholder-funded EnergyShare assistance program.
Spanberger has said his priorities in the regulatory overhaul include affordable electric bills, protections for Dominion’s workforce and continued investment in Virginia’s energy system. She has not formally opposed the merger and her office said it was reviewing the expanded package.
Richmond, which is involved in the SCC proceedings, responded cautiously. Mayor Danny Avula on Sept. 15 called the revised commitments “encouraging,” but said “taxpayers, especially vulnerable taxpayers, our local workforce and our capital must be represented in this process.”
The companies also supported state efforts to prevent residential and small business customers from bearing the costs associated with data center service.
ENR previously reported that Dominion had connected more than 450 Virginia data centers, which accounted for about 28 percent of its electricity sales in the state.
NextEra and Dominion filed their Virginia merger application on July 15 and continue to target the second half of 2027 to close the transaction, subject to regulatory approvals. The Virginia State Corporation Commission has scheduled an evidentiary hearing beginning Nov. 17.
