Chair Hernandez, The Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce supports the following bills: HB1135 HB1133 HB946 HB504 The Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce opposes the following bill: - HB897 Thank you for your time. Kind Regards, Theo Stamatis Government Relations Manager Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce 703.314.3519 tstamatis@loudounchamber.org

I'm Nathan Soules, a founding member of Zero Carbon Virginia, and I live in Leesburg, VA. ZCV supports HB897, HB1132, and HB1133. The growing impact of data centers on our grid is too large to ignore. As the JLARC study on data centers found, it would be “very difficult” to build enough electric infrastructure to support unconstrained demand for data centers. HB897 leverages the tax exemption given to data centers to incentivize use of clean energy. Replacing diesel and gas generators with cleaner alternatives reduces greenhouse gas emissions and local impacts on noise and air quality. Requiring purchase of RECs helps Virginia stay on track with the goals of the VCEA’s RPS. Efficiency standards will help reduce electricity demand. Last year, many of the clean energy incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act were rolled back. HB1132 and HB1133 both help to mitigate the loss of those federal incentives. This helps Virginia continue to meet its VCEA targets and preserve jobs in the growing solar and energy storage industries. Investment in these low cost technologies will ultimately lower costs for rate payers. Residential solar and energy storage can reduce the need for additional electric transmission and generation, particularly if coordinated with a virtual power plant. Utility-scale solar and energy storage are critical for the transition away from fossil fuel generation.

I oppose this bill. The general assembly should not give tax breaks to solar developers. The majority of rural taxpayers are against utility scale solar being sited on agricultural and timberland. Corporations and wealthy individuals do not deserve tax breaks at the expense of the lower and middle class citizens. This tax break is being proposed at the same time as the General Assembly is proposing new taxes on working Virginians: Taxes on Amazon deliveries, haircuts, lawn care services, oil changes, gym membership, tire rotation, Plumbing services, and other general services. a better way to give a solar tax break would provide a tax break for every Virginian to put solar panels on their roof and tax breaks for businesses to put solar panels on their roofs and parking lots.