Dominion is proud to partner with other businesses, local governments and civic organizations to build stronger communities where we do business. Reliable, affordable and plentiful energy is a fundamental driver of today’s growing digital economy and the goods and services that sustain healthy communities.

We are fortunate to operate in a region that features a vigorous, diversified and growing economy. Most of our assets and operations are in the Northeastern quadrant of the U.S. — an area that accounts for 40 percent of the nation’s total energy use and is home to more than 120 million Americans. On average, we have connected about 70,000 new electric and natural gas customers to our system in each of the past five years.

Nowhere is the economy more vibrant than in our home state of Virginia, which leads the nation in high-tech job growth. In fact, roughly half of the nation’s Internet traffic is routed through the Northern Virginia suburbs abutting Washington, D.C. One data center that helps manage the electronic flow of information consumes the same amount of electricity as 6,000 average homes. Twenty of them are currently in operation.

Another 25 data centers are planned for the region over the next five years. Together, their operations will consume as much power as a large American city.

Article continues below.

Data centers in Northern Virginia that manage the flow of traffic on the Internet consume as much power as
6,000 average homes.

An additional 25 data centers are planned for the region over the next five years.

It came as no surprise to us when Forbes.com named Virginia “Best State for Business” in 2006 and 2007. The lowest average industrial electric rates on the East Coast played a big role in this ranking.

Virginia’s high-tech story is only one piece of a much larger growth story that will play out over the coming decade.

To keep pace with customer demand, Dominion will have to add more than 4,000 megawatts of new generating capacity to its system by 2017. That’s the equivalent of serving the needs of one million new homes.

The challenge for us will be to meet this growing energy need reliably, efficiently and at the lowest possible cost. It’s not a challenge we can choose to accept or decline. It is both a legal mandate and an ethical commitment to our customers.

We will have to draw on all the resources at our disposal to get the job done — including fossil, nuclear and renewable sources, as well as increasing reliance on con-servation and efficiency programs. We will also have to build new transmission lines to move needed power to high-growth areas, primarily Northern Virginia and the Hampton Roads area of Virginia.

Building new energy infrastructure is not without contro-versy. We recognize that different stakeholders often have competing concerns and perspectives. We do our best to maintain open channels of communication and working relationships with all groups whose interests we intersect in the course of doing business. As a general principle, our approach is to find energy solutions that balance economic growth and environmental protection.

Our main role is to act as a catalyst for sustainable development, with a focus on keeping energy costs low, providing superior customer service and helping attract new businesses and tax dollars to the regions we serve. To support business expansions or relocations, we offer marketing support to state and local economic development agencies and offi-cials committed to their communities’ continued growth.

The benefits of these public-private partnerships have been substantial. In the past five years, Dominion has played an active role in projects that have brought more than 11,000 new jobs and more than $2.5 billion in new investments to Virginia.

Along with keeping energy costs down and reliability high, it is part of what we do to enhance the appeal of our communities as attractive sites for new and expanded business ventures.

Reliable, affordable and plentiful energy is a fundamental driver of today’s digital
economy, helping to sustain healthy, growing communities such as Richmond, Va.,
seen here at night.

A Dominion lineman relocates an
overhead power line on the Virginia
side of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge
spanning the Potomac River near
Washington, D.C. The company is
placing some overhead distribution
lines underground as part of a nine year project, one of the largest
public works initiatives in the Mid-Atlantic region.