Immediately after receipt of an air permit, Dominion Virginia Power has begun construction on its 1,588-MW Greensville County Power Station, a combined-cycle gas power project that comes with a price tag of $1.3 billion.
Virginia Air Pollution Control Board issued the air permit on June 17 – clearing the last regulatory hurdle the CCGT had faced. The seven-person air board voted 5-0 to approve the permit; one member abstained and another was absent.
Start-up scheduled for 2019
Paul Koonce, CEO for Dominion's Generation Group called the decision “terrific news” for all stakeholders involved. "We are excited about the task ahead,” he said, underlining the aim to get the power station operational by 2019.
Once operational, the large-scale CCGT is seen to increase Dominion’s reliance on natural gas to 39% of its energy mix by 2020.
The regional economy in Virginia is expected to benefit from the power station. In its first year of operation, it is expected to provide up to $8 million in property taxes for Greensville County. Post-construction economic benefits are projected to amount to about $36 million annually, and about 166 jobs will be supported, with roughly half of these in local communities.
Dominion eyes future savings
Over its anticipated 36-year life, the CCGT is mean to supply electricity to more than 400,000 Dominion customers and safe the operator $2 billion as it will no longer have to buy this electricity on the wholesale market.
As for air quality, Pamela F. Faggert, Dominion's chief environmental officer highlighted the approval from the Air Board and said the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has issued a “very strict permit, which will require the that our station be one of the most efficient and environmentally protective gas-fuelled power stations in the world."