Dominion Virginia Power Seeks State Approval for Natural Gas-Fired Power Station in Central Virginia
Project already has key environmental permits for combined-cycle power station
Station would generate about 580 megawatts, enough electricity for 145,000 homes
Unit scheduled to begin operations in summer 2011
RICHMOND, Va. – Dominion Virginia Power today applied
with the Virginia State Corporation Commission for permission to build a 580-megawatt
power station to help meet the projected growing demand for electricity from
its 2.3 million Virginia customers.
The proposed natural gas-fired, combined-cycle power station
would be in Buckingham County, Va., about 60 miles west of Richmond. Dominion
closed March 4 on the acquisition of the power station development project from
Tenaska, one of the nation’s largest independent power producers.
In its filing, Dominion asked the SCC to approve the projected
$619 million project in time for it to begin operating by summer 2011. The project
already has key environmental permits, including the required air and water
discharge permits, which will be transferred and/or modified as necessary. Dominion
plans to build a 2-on-1 unit, in which two combustion turbines generate electricity
and exhaust heat produces steam to generate additional electricity.
“Our Virginia customers are projected to demand at least
4,000 megawatts of additional electric capacity from us during the next decade,”
said Thomas F. Farrell II, chairman, president and chief executive officer.
“This power station will be a component of a balanced mix, along with
energy conservation and other new generation and new technologies, to meet the
demand.”
The station would be built on a site across the James River
from Dominion’s Bremo Power Station. The project is expected to generate
300 construction jobs, and would provide 20 full-time positions when operating.
Dominion Virginia Power is a subsidiary of Dominion (NYSE:
D), one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a
portfolio of approximately 26,500 megawatts of generation, 6,000 miles of electric
transmission lines, 14,000 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and
storage pipeline, and 1.1 trillion cubic feet equivalent of natural gas and
oil reserves. Dominion also owns the nation’s largest underground natural
gas storage system and operates more than 975 billion cubic feet of storage
capacity and serves retail energy customers in 11 states. For more information
about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at http://www.dom.com.
