Resilience hub pilot prog.; establishing to assist vulnerable communities during emerg. situation.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source does not provide specific details about funding sources or total costs for the program.

Resilience Hub Pilot Program

This bill establishes a two-year pilot program for resilience hubs in Virginia, which are solar panel and battery systems to provide power to public buildings during emergencies.

What This Bill Does

• Creates a two-year pilot program for resilience hubs in targeted vulnerable communities.
• Defines a resilience hub as a system of solar panels and batteries that ensures continuous power to publicly accessible buildings during outages.
• Limits the number of hubs per year to three, with no more than one hub per planning district.
• Requires Phase II Utilities to own battery storage for resilience hubs.

Who It Names or Affects

• Vulnerable communities including low-income individuals, disabled persons, and elderly residents.
• Phase II Utilities which will own the battery storage for resilience hubs.
• The Department of Emergency Management which must coordinate with utilities to set up these hubs.

Terms To Know

Resilience Hub

A system of solar panels and batteries that ensures continuous power to publicly accessible buildings during outages.

Phase II Utility

A specific type of utility company defined by state law.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill limits the number of resilience hubs per year to three and restricts them to planning districts within a Phase II Utility's exclusive service territory.
• It is unclear what the exact costs and funding sources for the program are.

Official Summary Text

Establishing a resilience hub pilot program to assist vulnerable communities during emergency situations.
Directs the Department of Emergency Management to establish a two-year resilience hub pilot program to assist vulnerable communities during emergency situations. The bill defines a "resilience hub" as a simple combination of solar panels and batteries that ensures continuous power to a publicly accessible building when severe weather events or other grid disruptions cause an electrical outage.

Current Bill Text

HOUSE BILL NO. 472

AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE

(Proposed by the House Committee on Public Safety

on January 30, 2026)

(Patron Prior to Substitute--Delegate Feggans)

A BILL to establish a resilience hub pilot program to assist vulnerable communities during emergency situations.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1.
§ 1.
The
Department of
Energy, in consultation with the Department of Emergency Management
shall
, in coordination with a Phase II Utility,

initiate
a two-year pilot program designed to

establish up to
three
resilience hubs per year
in
targeted, vulnerable
communities
,

including those with high
percentages
of

low-income
or
disabled persons
,
the elderly,
and other

persons
for whom evacuation during an emergency situation is difficult and who may have few alternative
s
.

No more than one resilience hub may be established in any single planning district and only planning districts located within the exclusive service territory established by the
State Corporation
Commission
for a Phase II Utility are eligible
resilience
hub host sites. The Phase II Utility shall own the battery storage associated with each resilience hub and shall
petition
the
State Corporate
Commission to recover costs associated with such battery storage pursuant to subsec
tion D of §
56-585.5
. A Phase II Utility may utilize battery storage associated with such resilience hubs for peak-shaving during times of peak electric demand when a resilience hub is not actively in use due to an emergency or otherwise. Battery storage owned and operated by a Phase
II Utility pursuant to this act may count toward the maximum total distributed energy resources established in the virtual power plant pilot program pursuant to §
56-585.1:16
.

F
or purposes of this
a
ct
:

"Emergency" means the same as that term is defined in
§
44-146.16
.

"Phase II Utility" means the same as that term is defined in
subdivision A 1
of §
56-585.1
.

"Planning district" means the same as that term is defined in §
15.2-4202
.

"
R
esilience
h
ub
"

means
a simple combination of solar panels and batteries that ensures continuous power to a publicly

accessible building when severe weather events or other grid disruptions cause an
electrical
outage.