| Chesterfield Power Station | 
Print-Friendly
Version |
Dominion's Chesterfield Power Station is the largest fossil-fueled power station in Virginia. Located about 15 miles south of Richmond on the James River in Chesterfield County, the station can generate more than 1,700 megawatts.
Fueled by coal, it is one of six Dominion coal-fired or oil fired stations. Chesterfield supplies about 12 percent of the electricity used by the four million people the utility serves.
Chesterfield Units 7 & 8 combined cycle units, located at the Chesterfield Power Station, represent the culmination of years of study in the search for innovative and efficient generating technologies to meet future energy needs.
The combined cycle technology is tailor-made for tomorrow's power producers for several reasons:
First, combined cycle units are small, efficient, relatively inexpensive and can be built in approximately one-third the time it takes to build a pulverized coal station. Second, they can be installed at existing station sites with minimal environmental impacts. And third, it's a technology that can be adopted in stages - a feature that helps keep capacity additions in line with demand growth.
The 214-megawatt Chesterfield 7 unit occupies the site of Chesterfield 1, which was retired in 1981 after 37 years of service. Chesterfield 8 is identical to Chesterfield 7, and occupies the former site of Chesterfield 2 which was retired after 33 years of service. Chesterfield 7 and 8 burn clean natural gas and distillate oil. But instead of venting the hot exhaust gases to the atmosphere, the units extract most of the heat to produce steam which turns another turbine - hence the name "combined cycle."
At some time in the future, coal gasifiers could be added to the units to create a clean, burnable gas from the coal, which could be fed into the unit to produce power.
- Because of its moderate costs, its flexibility, efficiency and environmental advantages, the combined cycle technology offers tremendous potential for the future. And it fits in well with Dominion's strategy of building new generating facilities to meet capacity needs when building is the lowest-cost option available.
About the Environment
Dominion only buys coal that will meet stringent ash and air quality standards. After the hot combustion gases leave the boilers, they are cleaned of airborne particles called fly ash by multi-million dollar electrostatic precipitators. The fly ash, together with ash from the bottom of the boilers, is placed in the station's ash pond, a specially designed landfill.
Brief Facts
Net Generating Capacity: 1,726 megawatts
Generating Capacity by Unit:
Unit 3 - 110 megawatts
Unit 4 - 181 megawatts
Unit 5 - 344 megawatts
Unit 6 - 693 megawatts
Unit 7 - 238 megawatts
Unit 8 - 241 megawatts
Units 1 and 2 were retired in 1982 after 33 and 37 years of operation
Average Daily Coal Consumption: 8,400 tons
Commercial Operation -
Unit 3 - December, 1952
Unit 4 - June, 1960
Unit 5 - August, 1964
Unit 6 - May, 1969
Unit 7 - June, 1990
Unit 8 - May, 1992
Station Employees: +/- 200
Boiler Manufacturer -
Combustion Engineering, Inc.
Turbine Generator Manufacturer -
General Electric Corp.
Engineer/Builder -
Stone & Webster Engineering Corp.