Dominion Energy strives to be the most sustainable energy company in America. We are driving down our emissions, while continuing to provide our customers with safe, reliable and affordable energy. I’m pleased with the progress we’ve already made in meeting our customers’ needs by adding more clean energy to our generation portfolio, while maintaining excellent reliability and stable rates well below the national average.
We’ve shown we can lower emissions, while continuing to offer a great value. Virginia’s competitive electric rates are one reason CNBC once again ranked the Commonwealth as the top state for business. Today, our industrial rates are 29 percent below the national average and 43 percent below the East Coast average. Furthermore, we work to understand our customer’s needs. As our customer’s needs evolve, we adapt and respond.
To become the most sustainable energy company in America, we must embrace new technologies and investments at a significant pace. We’ve heard from our customers, investors and stakeholders, and we’re aligned with them on Environmental, Social and Governance initiatives. We cut our carbon emissions companywide from our electric generation business by 43 percent from 2005 to 2020, and since 2010, we have cut methane emissions from our natural gas business by 32 percent. Although that is strong progress, there’s more work to be done. That’s why last year we committed to net zero carbon and methane emissions companywide by 2050.
In pursuit of our net-zero goal, we are retiring older, higher-emitting generation energy sources and adding cleaner, renewable ones, without taking our eyes off our mission of providing reliable and affordable service. Just six years ago, we had only 1 megawatt (MW) of solar energy in service in our Virginia portfolio, enough to power 250 homes. As installed solar costs fell, we’ve increased our investments and now have more than 6,000 MW in operation and development in Virginia. We are on track to have more than 16,000 MW online in the next 15 years.
We’re taking a similar approach with offshore wind, proceeding judiciously and prudently managing costs while creating economic opportunity. Earlier this year, our Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot project officially began serving customers, marking the first time in the United States turbines in federal waters were powering homes and businesses. The ensuing commercial project—the largest in North America—is currently under development with the federal and state regulatory processes well underway. The project remains on schedule to provide up to 2,600 MW of clean, renewable energy to homes and businesses when it becomes operational by 2026.
Nuclear energy is critical to achieving our clean energy goals. In May, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved our application to renew Surry Power Station’s operating licenses for an additional 20 years, allowing the units to continue generating zero-carbon electricity through 2053. This positive outcome provides optimism for a similar ruling on our pending application to renew the licenses for the two units at North Anna Power Station. Together, the four nuclear units provide 92 percent of the carbon-free electricity generation in Virginia today and can operate in any weather condition to create the bedrock of our clean energy generation portfolio in Virginia.
In fact, nuclear energy’s role in our fuel mix is unwavering. It was about one-third of our Virginia power generation mix five years ago, remained approximately the same last year and has been forecasted to provide the same proportion in 15 years.
Natural gas grew, becoming about half of the fuel mix as our use of coal decreased, and will play a key role through 2036 to ensure system reliability as we increase our use of renewable energy. Our forecasts show that in just 15 years, 85 percent of our customers’ energy will come from zero-carbon sources, putting us well on our way to meet our corporate commitments.
