Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC) President and CEO John Hewa spoke at a community energy forum in Culpeper on Jan. 8, 2026. More than 25 attended the breakfast event at Germanna Community College, representing area community, educational and government leaders. This was the third community forum hosted by REC in the last three months as Hewa continues to engage local leaders in taking action to ensure Virginia’s energy future and mitigate the foreseeable energy constraints driven by rapidly increasing energy demand. The previous forums occurred in Fredericksburg and Berryville and focused on engaging leaders in the eastern and western portions of REC’s service territory, respectively.
Hewa laid out the Commonwealth’s energy demands and capacity and called for continued partnership.
“The status quo is unsustainable,” Hewa warned, citing a 2025 U.S. Department of Energy report on the nation’s electric grid (www.energy.gov/topics/reliability). The current outlook demands action now, both nationally and in our state, Hewa emphasized, illustrating the energy capacity challenges through key metrics and trends.
Hewa advocated for considering all available generation resource options, and for siting new generation in Virginia.
“When you want to be a top state for business, you’ve got to step up in every way to get the job done. That’s infrastructure, roads, telecom, quality of life, academics and workforce,” Hewa said. “There are a lot of factors and one of those is energy.”
Hewa asked the audience to partner with REC in advancing calls for multiple solutions to ensure Virginia’s ability to meet the demands of its residents, businesses and its continued economic development. Hewa emphasized:
- Accelerating regulatory processes.
- Streamlining permitting processes.
- Leveraging energy storage and backup generation resources.
- Immediately authorizing 10,000 MW of dispatchable baseload generation, sited in Virginia.
Hewa wrapped up his comments with a positive vision for the future of the Commonwealth.
“There’s an opportunity for Virginia to establish itself as the absolute energy leader. The leader, not just in solving this and sending a signal to Virginia and economic development interests that we’re going to solve this and hold down rates and support reliability, but also to have the workforce, to have the new energy technology literally developed here in Virginia, leaning on our universities and our strong academics,” Hewa said. “There’s a real opportunity here.”
About Rappahannock Electric Cooperative
Serving over 184,000 connections across portions of 22 Virginia counties, REC is a pillar in its communities, with over 18,000 miles of power lines extending from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay. For more information about REC, please visit www.myrec.coop. Follow REC on Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
