NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, is partnering with the Virginia Department of Energy to bolster long-term energy security in the state. The collaboration will provide solar, meteorological and future weather risk datasets intended for energy system modeling and planning.

The stated aim of the agreement is to support informed decisions on effective energy generation, delivery and use. The data supplied by Langley will underpin assessments of renewable capacity deployment scenarios and help anticipate how weather conditions and future climate could affect supply reliability.

Langley has a long track record in aeronautical and environmental research, including Earth observation and solar resource characterization. Putting that capability at the service of a state administration turns satellite observation series and climate models into concrete planning tools for grid operators and policymakers.

The initiative forms part of a broader agency effort to transfer its remote sensing and modeling capabilities to immediate civilian needs such as energy resilience. Neither NASA nor the Virginia Department of Energy specified in the announcement the delivery schedule for the data or the formats in which it will be distributed.