Blue Ridge Power Agency Members Partner with Lightshift Energy to Deploy Battery Storage and Improve Rural Energy Affordability

April 16, 2026-Lightshift Energy, a utility-scale energy storage developer, owner, and operator, and the Blue Ridge Power Agency (BRPA) today announced a partnership to deploy a portfolio of battery energy storage projects across Virginia in collaboration with Central Virginia Electric Cooperative (CVEC), Craig-Botetourt Electric Cooperative (CBEC), and the City of Salem Electric Department (Salem), with the potential for more BRPA projects in the future. The first five projects are currently under construction and are expected to be online in 2026. The initial project portfolio will save the BRPA utilities approximately $100 million over project lifetimes.

The five-project portfolio has been strategically deployed in rural Virginia at three CVEC locations, one with CBEC, and one with Salem. The projects are all approximately 5MWs and are distribution-connected, allowing them to provide benefits to both the distribution and transmission systems as well as the local communities. When operational, the projects will discharge energy during periods of high demand, reducing transmission and capacity costs that drive electricity prices for cooperative members and utility customers.

At a time when electricity demand and costs are rising, there is a shortage of power supply across the PJM market, and system conditions are becoming more volatile, the portfolio will offer a needed source of peak power capacity and is expected to deliver approximately $100 million in savings over its lifetime while improving grid reliability and directly benefiting local communities.

“We are excited to see these facilities come online and produce savings for the members and customers of CBEC, CVEC, and Salem,” said Alice Wolfe, General Manager of BRPA. “Rising transmission and capacity costs have been a source of concern for some time, and these new battery projects will begin to control these costs. The staff, boards, and council of CBEC, CVEC, and Salem deserve credit for their thoughtful and committed leadership.”

“As Virginia continues to increase its appetite for energy storage, electric cooperatives and municipal utilities are uniquely positioned to lead on innovative applications that directly benefit their members,” said Mike Herbert, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Lightshift Energy. “By working together with BRPA, CVEC, CBEC, and Salem, this coordinated effort exemplifies how portfolios of distribution-connected storage can offer not only significant savings to the participating utilities, but also fast and cost-effective capacity during a time that the PJM market is scrambling to bring on new resources and keep electricity prices low.”

The portfolio helps satisfy growing demand across the region, including from large new loads such as data centers, which are increasing pressure on local infrastructure and accelerating the need for flexible resources. Fleet deployments of distribution-connected storage are well suited to meet this moment, providing a scalable approach to accelerate the delivery capacity where it is needed most. Lightshift refers to this portfolio-based approach for megawatt-scale storage deployment as VPP+, as it offers a much faster path to capacity delivery than transmission-connected projects while unlocking economies of scale that are not possible with smaller, behind-the-meter assets.

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Blue Ridge Power Agency Members Recognized

April 13, 2026-Blue Ridge Power Agency (BRPA) is proud to announce that the Town of Front Royal, City of Martinsville, and the City of Salem have each earned the 2025 APPA Award for Exceptional Electric Reliability from the American Public Power Association (APPA).

This national award recognizes public power utilities that achieve outstanding levels of reliability, based on rigorous analysis of outage frequency and duration. Only a small percentage of public power utilities across the country receive this distinction each year, placing these BRPA member communities among the top performers nationwide.

The Town of Front Royal also earned the APPA Safety Award of Excellence for safe operating practices in 2025, receiving the top Diamond Level honor in its utility category. More than 240 utilities entered the annual Safety Awards for 2025. The entrants are placed in accordance with their number of worker-hours and ranked based on the most incident-free records and overall state of their safety programs and culture during 2025.

“These awards for excellence highlight the strong commitment of these members to reliability, safety, and service,” said Alice Wolfe, BRPA General Manager. “We are proud to support communities that set such a high standard for public power.”

Each of the recognized communities credits local investment, careful planning, and employee dedication for maintaining high levels of reliability.

“We are proud to receive this recognition. It is a testament to the hard work of all our staff to ensure that we keep Front Royal powered,” said Carey Saffelle, Director of Energy Services for the Town of Front Royal.

“Reliability is built through preparation, teamwork, and investment in our system. We are honored to receive this recognition and remain focused on providing safe, dependable electric service for our community.” said Durwin Joyce, Electric Director, for the city of Martinsville.

“We are honored to receive this award. It reflects the hard work and dedication our staff brings every day to ensure reliable, dependable service for our customers,” said Kevin Divers, Interim Director of Salem Electric, for the City of Salem.