Dominion Virginia Power Proposes New Generation, Transmission Line To Meet Fast-Growing Need For Electricity In Northern Virginia
Company proposes to add 300 megawatts at Ladysmith Power Station
Independently requests new transmission line along existing right of way
RICHMOND, Va. – Dominion Virginia Power, a subsidiary
of Dominion (NYSE: D), Thursday proposed building new generating units and
a high-voltage transmission line to serve the increasing demand for electricity
in Northern Virginia, one of the fastest-growing regions in the nation.
Dominion filed two independently
planned and prepared applications with the Virginia State Corporation Commission. They
are:
A proposal to add two
150-megawatt, natural gas-fired electric generating units at its Ladysmith
Power Station near Fredericksburg to supply electricity during peak demand
days. The estimated cost is $135 million.
A proposal to build a 500,000-volt
transmission line between the Meadow Brook and Loudoun substations in
Frederick and Loudoun counties, respectively, to alleviate projected
overloads of the transmission system in the summer of 2011. The
estimated cost is $243 million.
"Our customers in Northern Virginia need reliable electricity
for their long-term needs," said Thomas F. Farrell II, Dominion president
and chief executive officer. "Schools, hospitals, airports, defense
and Internet facilities must have reliable energy 24 hours a day, seven days
a week."
New generation at Ladysmith
Dominion anticipated the potential
need for more generation at Ladysmith, designing the site for five units. The
first two 150-megawatt units began providing electricity in 2001 just prior
to the peak demand summer season. Based
on timely regulatory approval and necessary permits, the facility is expected
to be in operation by August 2008.
Dominion issued a request last November for
either 300 megawatts of new peaking capacity or demand-side management programs
for Northern Virginia. The
company decided to build the units itself after reviewing all the bids.
Ladysmith
Power Station occupies approximately 291 acres in Caroline County alongside
Interstate 95. The area for the new units was cleared and graded
during initial construction. The natural gas for the units comes from
a pipeline that passes through the property.
New 500-kilovolt transmission
line
The proposed 65-mile
route for the transmission line
is within or adjacent to an existing transmission power line corridor in
Warren, Rappahannock, Culpeper, Fauquier, Prince William and Loudoun counties. Locating this
new line within or adjacent to the existing right of way provides the least
overall impact of any of the viable transmission alternatives studied. Constructing
a new line on a new corridor across undisturbed lands would create a completely
new and separate impact in Northern Virginia.
Where it is necessary to widen
the existing right of way in Rappahannock, Culpeper and Fauquier counties,
it will need to be widened no more than 125 feet. No new right of way
is required in Prince William or Loudoun counties. In
some areas, the company will replace existing lattice-style transmission towers
with single-pole towers.
Dominion examined many alternatives to meet the growing
demand for energy, including reducing consumption through conservation. However,
an independent study by KEMA, an internationally recognized power engineering
firm in Burlington, Mass., confirmed that the only practical solution to alleviate
overloaded transmission lines in the summer of 2011 and avoid "rolling
blackouts" is to
build the transmission line. The KEMA study is part of the application.
"KEMA
found that Dominion would have to establish an energy conservation program
in Northern Virginia that would reduce the region’s electric
load by almost half to remove the need for the line," Farrell said. "We
will continue to encourage our customers to use energy wisely, but to expect
this much conservation in four years is clearly not reasonable."
Electric
demand in Northern Virginia has grown by about 40 percent over the last decade
and is projected to grow by another 8 percent by 2011. Six
counties – Loudoun, Spotsylvania, Culpeper, Stafford, King George and
Prince William – are among the 100 fastest-growing counties, the U.S.
Census Bureau has reported. This region was the only part of Dominion’s
service area in which the company had to reduce voltage during the summer 2005
peak to maintain the system and was included in a voltage reduction warning
during the all-time peak of 19,375 megawatts set Aug. 3, 2006.
Along with increased
demand from residential construction, proposed projects in the region include
the addition of 22,000 employees at Fort Belvoir, the $3.4 billion expansion
of Washington-Dulles International Airport, the $4 billion extension of Metrorail
and a number of energy-intensive computer data centers.
PJM Interconnection,
which operates the transmission system in Virginia, 12 other Mid-Atlantic states
and the District of Columbia, likened the increase in demand on the Dominion
system to adding approximately 1 million new houses over the next five years.
Dominion
is one of the nation's largest producers of energy, with a portfolio of more
than 26,300 megawatts of generation. Dominion serves retail
energy customers in 11 states. For more information about Dominion, visit the
company's Web site at http://www.dom.com.
