Dominion Virginia Power (DVP) will lean more on natural gas for power generation over the next 15 years, the Dominion subsidiary said in an updated integrated resource plan filed with the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) Thursday.

To meet an expected 30% electricity demand increase by 2026, DVP said it plans to have a new 1,300 MW gas-fired combined cycle power station in service by 2016 and a second 1,300 MW gas-fired power station in service by 2019 at as-yet undetermined locations. A dozen smaller gas-fired combustion turbine units would go into service between 2020 and 2026, DVP said.

Richmond, VA-based DVP said plans for those facilities are in addition to ones already under construction or development, including the 585 MW Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center in Wise County, VA, the repowering of two coal-fired units at the Bremo Power Station in Fluvanna County to natural gas and the approximately 1,300 MW gas-fired Warren County Power Station near Front Royal, VA, the application for which is pending before the SCC.

In the plan DVP said it will likely convert one coal-fired unit at its Yorktown Power Station to natural gas and close a second coal-fired unit there by 2015. The coal-fired Chesapeake Energy Center will likely be closed the following year.

DVP is also planning to retrofit and repower some existing units, implement conservation initiatives, and build or upgrade transmission lines to help meet growing demand in its service territory.

The company remains committed to meeting Virginia’s renewable energy goal of 15% of base year sales by 2025, according to Dominion CEO Thomas Farrell. In addition to more than 400 MW of renewable generation already in its portfolio, DVP is seeking approval to convert three coal stations to use biomass as fuel, and biomass could make up as much as 20% of the fuel used at the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center. Dominion is also preparing to request regulatory approval of a Solar Distributed Generation Program, in which the company would lease large commercial rooftops to install solar panels and add the renewable energy to its generation mix, and is studying the possibility of adding onshore and offshore wind generation.

“We remain especially interested in the potential for offshore wind projects off the Virginia Coast and look forward to completing our study on the feasibility of connecting the projects to the Virginia power grid via an underwater transmission cable,” Farrell said.

DVP started 2011 by announcing that it planned to spend $7.6 billion on capital improvements by 2015 (see Power Market Today, Jan. 3). Planned capital improvements include new power stations and other electric infrastructure to meet growing demand. PJM Interconnection has estimated that DVP needs 5,600 MW of new generating capacity by 2020 to keep up with demand growth.

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