Frack Check WV » Electricity generation

VIRGINIA Embarks on Large Scale Transition to Clean Energy — Part 2

Diana Gooding — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 07:04:02 +0000

Planning for much more solar & wind power

Virginia energy policy made interesting by Gov. Northam & VA Legislature

From a Report by Ivy Main, Power for the People VA, April 3, 2020

Virginia joins RGGI, less CO2 emissions

Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality has already written the regulations that call for Virginia power plants to reduce emissions by 30 percent by 2030. The mechanism for achieving this involves Virginia trading with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a regional carbon cap and trade market.

The regulations have been on hold as the result of a budget amendment passed last year, when Republicans still ruled the General Assembly. After July 1, DEQ will be able to implement the regulations, with the commonwealth participating in carbon allowance auctions as early as the last quarter of this year or the first quarter of 2021.

In addition to joining RGGI, the Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act also allows the commonwealth to earn money from the allowance auctions. The Department of Housing and Community Development will spend 50 percent of auction proceeds on “low-income efficiency programs, including programs for eligible housing developments.”

The Department of Conservation and Recreation will get 45 percent of the auction proceeds to fund flood preparedness and climate change planning and mitigation through the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund. The last 5 percent of proceeds will cover administrative costs, including those for administering the auctions.

Energy efficiency savings become mandatory, not just decorations

Two years ago, the Grid Transformation and Security Act required Dominion and Appalachian Power to propose more than a billion dollars in energy efficiency spending over 10 years, but the law didn’t say the programs had to actually be effective in lowering electricity demand.

This year that changed. For the first time, Virginia will have an energy efficiency resource standard (EERS) requiring Dominion to achieve a total of 5 percent electricity savings by 2025 (using 2019 as the baseline); APCo must achieve a total of 2 percent savings. The SCC is charged with setting new targets after 2025. At least 15 percent of the costs must go to programs benefiting low-income, elderly or disabled individuals, or veterans.

The EERS comes on top of the low-income energy efficiency spending funded by RGGI auctions.

Dominion and Appalachian Power ramp up renewables and energy storage

The Clean Economy Act requires Dominion to build 16,100 megawatts of onshore wind and solar energy, and APCo to build 600 megawatts. The law also contains one of the strongest energy storage mandates in the country: 2,700 MW for Dominion, 400 MW for Appalachian Power.

Beginning in 2020, Dominion and Appalachian must submit annual plans to the SCC for new wind, solar and storage resources. We’ll have a first look at Dominion’s plans just a month from now: the SCC has told the company to take account of the Clean Economy Act and other new laws when it files its 2020 Integrated Resource Plan on May 1.

The legislation provides a strangely long lead time before the utilities must request approval of specific projects: by the end of 2023 for APCo (the first 200 MW) or 2024 for Dominion (the first 3,000 MW). But the build-out then becomes rapid, and the utilities must issue requests for proposals on at least an annual basis.

In addition to the solar and land-based wind, Dominion now has the green light for up to 3,000 MW of offshore wind from the project it is developing off Virginia Beach, and which it plans to bring online beginning in 2024. All told, the Clean Economy Act proclaims up to 5,200 MW of offshore wind by 2034 to be in the public interest.

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See also: Virginia lawmakers agreed to join a regional carbon market. Here’s what happens next. – Virginia Mercury, Sarah Vogelsong, April 14, 2020

“By joining RGGI, Virginia will take part in a proven, market-based program for reducing carbon pollution in a manner that protects consumers,” Northam said in a statement Sunday. “I am proposing important refinements and I look forward to signing it into law soon.”

Clearing these political hurdles, though, is only the beginning of the administration’s work. Virginia will become a full participant in RGGI starting Jan. 1. Here’s what will happen between now and then.

Perhaps 29 New Natural Gas Fueled Electric Power Plants in PA, OH, & WV

admin — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 09:05:16 +0000

New 940MW combined-cycle natural gas power plant now operating at Lordstown, OH

New Power Plants Represent an Investment of $25B in Tri-State Region

From the Editor, Business Journal (Youngstown, OH), October 10, 2018

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A new report shows that natural gas-powered energy plants either in operation or in various stages of development have attracted more than $25 billion worth of new investment to the Appalachian Basin.

The report comes on the heels of an announcement Tuesday that the Lordstown Energy Center, a $1 billion, 940-megawatt combined cycle-energy plant, is now operational and producing electrical power.

Some 29 new power plants, each with a capacity of 475-megawatts or greater, are in operation, under construction, or in the various stages of the permitting process in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

When operating at full capacity, the 29 plants would generate a combined 26,086 megawatts of power. Total construction jobs would amount to 17,800, the industry group reports. DOWNLOAD CHART

Ten plants are either in operation or slated for Ohio, 16 are in operation or in various stages of development in Pennsylvania, and three are in the works in West Virginia, the advocacy group reports.

Among the plants under construction in Pennsylvania is the Hickory Run Energy Center in Lawrence County, Pa., which represents an $863 million investment.

In addition to the Lordstown plant, in Ohio the $889 million Carroll County Energy plant is operating, the South Field Energy plant in Columbiana County, a $1.3 billion investment, is scheduled to begin construction soon. And permits have been issued for the Trumbull Energy Center, also in Lordstown, a $865 million project that remains in limbo pending resolution of a legal dispute.

The plants are being constructed using local labor. Don Crane, former president of the Western Reserve Building and Construction Trades Council, described the labor agreement that employed the workers who built the Lordstown Energy Center as “the best labor agreement that anyone has ever seen on either side of the table in the oil and gas industry. It will be a model going forward that gets used often.”

Moreover, many of the new power plants are being built on the sites of previous power plants or other industrial facilities.

These natural gas-fired power plant investments are increasingly important given the recent announcements of several coal and nuclear facilities that will be closing in the region over the next few years. Coal currently represents 45% of Ohio’s electric mix and 93% of West Virginia’s, while nuclear energy is the leading fuel for electricity generation in Pennsylvania at 39%.

In Pennsylvania, the 16 plants will add another 15,000 megawatts of new electrical capacity to the power grid and generate an estimated investment of $14 billion. The investment has also led to the creation of more than 8,000 construction jobs.

Ohio’s 10 new plants represent more than 9,000 megawatts of power and an estimated $9 billion worth of investment, the report found. The projects have the prospect of creating about 7,200 jobs during the construction phase.

Pictured at top: Aerial view of the Lordstown Energy Plant.

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“Jobs Alliance,” Funded by Trump Backer, Tries to Block Gas Plants That Would Bring Jobs to West Virginia

Article by Ken Ward Jr., Charleston Gazette-Mail, September 28, 2018

Murray Energy, one of the nation’s largest coal producers, is paying for lawyers trying to block the natural gas plants in West Virginia.

Methane Emissions from Natural Gas Power Plants a Problem

Duane Nichols — Sun, 26 Mar 2017 09:09:11 +0000

Methane is a Very Significant Greenhouse Gas (2014)

Study: Natural Gas Power Plants Emit up to 120 Times More Methane Than Previously Estimated

From an Article by Steve Horn • DeSmog Blog, March 20, 2017

Researchers at Purdue University and the Environmental Defense Fund have concluded in a recent study that natural gas power plants release 21–120 times more methane than earlier estimates.

Published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, the study also found that for oil refineries, emission rates were 11–90 times more than initial estimates. Natural gas, long touted as a cleaner and more climate-friendly alternative to burning coal, is obtained in the U.S. mostly via the controversial horizontal drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”).

The scientists measured air emissions at three natural gas-fired power plants and three refineries in Utah, Indiana, and Illinois using Purdue’s flying chemistry lab, the Airborne Laboratory for Atmospheric Research (ALAR). They compared their results to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program.

“Power plants currently use more than one third of natural gas consumed in the U.S. and the volume used is expected to increase as market forces drive the replacement of coal with cheaper natural gas,” the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) said in a press release. The nonprofit commissioned and funded the study with a grant from the Afred P. Sloan Foundation.

“But if natural gas is going to deliver on its promise, methane emissions due to leaks, venting, and flaring need to be kept to a minimum.”

Methane Leaks Major Source of Emissions

Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide but hangs around the atmosphere for a shorter time, with a global warming effect 84–87 times that of CO2 over a 20-year period, according to the EPA.

“[Methane is] a better fuel all around as long as you don’t spill it,” Paul Shepson, an atmospheric chemistry professor at Purdue, said in a press release. “But it doesn’t take much methane leakage to ruin your whole day if you care about climate change.”

The researchers were careful to differentiate between emissions related to natural gas combustion versus leakage, with the latter found to be the primary source of methane emissions in this small, preliminary study. Previous estimates of methane emissions were reported to the EPA from the facilities themselves and were restricted to what came out of the smokestack, which means they excluded leaks from equipment such as steam turbines and compressors.

The study was done as part of EDF’s ongoing series of studies measuring methane emissions and leakage throughout the U.S. natural gas supply chain. EDF said in its press release that the Purdue scientists plan to follow up with research at additional oil refineries and power plants. Purdue stated in a press release that support for the research also came from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Natural gas recently eclipsed coal as a power source feeding the U.S. electric grid, according to data published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

“For decades, coal has been the dominant energy source for generating electricity in the United States. EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) is now forecasting that 2016 will be the first year that natural gas-fired generation exceeds coal generation in the United States on an annual basis,” explained the EIA in March 2016. “Natural gas generation first surpassed coal generation on a monthly basis in April 2015, and the generation shares for coal and natural gas were nearly identical in 2015, each providing about one-third of all electricity generation.”

Trump Admininstration Dismantling Methane Regulations

The Purdue-EDF research results were published the same week President Donald Trump proposed massive cuts to the EPA, which would include a 23 percent cut to the enforcement division tasked with overseeing emissions at gas-fired power plants and oil refineries. The Trump administration has also announced its intentions to halt former President Barack Obama’s proposed methane emissions rule for gas situated on U.S. public lands and has already reversed the Obama EPA’s information request for methane emissions data from U.S. domestic oil and gas producers.

As DeSmog previously reported, Carl Icahn, the business tycoon who interviewed and vetted current EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, owns petrochemical refineries with a documented history of exceeding allowable emissions rates set by the EPA. In addition to being a major donor to Trump’s campaign, Icahn also serves as an adviser on regulatory issues to the Trump White House, a position set to benefit his extensive business holdings and raising concerns about conflicts of interest.

Icahn, however, has dismissed these concerns, telling Bloomberg Businessweek, “It may sound corny to you, but I think doing certain things helps the country a lot. And yeah, it helps me. I’m not apologizing for that.”

Marcellus Shale Gas to Fire Electricity Generation in WV, PA & OH

Duane Nichols — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 15:30:41 +0000

Sunbury pipeline nears completion in Pennsylvania

From an Article by Marie Cusick, PA StateImpact NPR, December 22, 2016

The coal plant in Shamokin Dam delivered electricity to the region for more than six decades. It closed in 2014. Next to it, a new natural gas power plant is under construction. The Sunbury Pipeline will feed Marcellus Shale gas into that plant.

A new 20-inch pipeline designed to deliver Marcellus Shale gas to a power plant in central Pennsylvania is nearing completion.

UGI Energy Services’s $150 million Sunbury pipeline is expected to be in service early next month. The line begins in Lycoming County and runs 35 miles southward. It’s designed to feed the new Hummel Station power plant, which is under construction at the site of the former Sunbury coal plant in Shamokin Dam, Synder County. The power plant is expected to come online in early 2018.

“The pipeline is in place along its entire route,” says UGI spokesman Ken Robinson. “Thursday of last week, the pipeline underwent a standard procedure known as ‘purge and pack.’ During this process, the pipeline was purged of air, mostly oxygen, and packed with natural gas.”

UGI has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to place the line into service January 1, 2017.

Although most of its gas is ultimately intended for the power plant, the Sunbury line will also supply UGI’s Central Penn system, which distributes gas to homes and businesses in the region.

Hummel Station is one of three new natural gas power plants being built in Pennsylvania by the Dallas, Texas-based private equity firm, Panda Power Funds. These projects are part of a broader, national trend away from coal, as natural gas takes up an increasing share of electric power generation.

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Moundsville Power, a project of Quantum Utility Generation

Technical Presentation: “Planned Natural Gas Electric Generation,” Suriyun Sukduang, Vice President, Engineering & Project Development, Quantum Utility Generation, WV Governor’s Energy Summit, Stonewall Jackson Resort, October 7, 2016.

Moundsville Power is to be a 595 MW combined-cycle gas or natural gas liquids -fired electric generating facility located in Marshall, WV, on the Ohio River. The facility will consist of two combustion turbine generators (CTGs), connected to two heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs). The HRSGs harness exhaust heat from the CTGs to generate high-quality, superheated steam.

The steam is generated into electricity in an environmentally friendly and efficient manner through a single steam turbine. Upon completion, this facility will provide base load and intermediate power needs to the PJM market. The facility is anticipated to become operational in late 2018.

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Moundsville Power Plant Project Delayed

From an Article by Alan Olson, Wheeling Intelligencer, October 5, 2016

An official representing the developers of the Moundsville Power natural gas electricity project spoke before the Marshall County Commission Tuesday morning, saying the plant is set to begin construction, aside from pending legal action.

Spokesman Curtis Wilkerson told commissioners construction on the natural gas plant, which was expected to begin this month, is currently on hold pending litigation from the Ohio Valley Jobs Alliance. This coal industry-backed group filed appeals against Moundsville Power’s air quality permit, granted by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. Filed last year, the alliance’s complaint claims the plant will produce emissions in excess of regulations.

Wilkerson was unable to say when work will resume, even in a best-case scenario for Moundsville Power, but estimated that it would likely be months.

“We have to go through things with the legal system at this point, and find out how long that will take,” Wilkerson said. “Everything else is in line. We were ready to break ground and have shovels and hardhats in October. … We think it will be pushed back a few months from today.”

Wilkerson said that aside from the appeals, preparations at Moundsville Power were progressing well. He believes the finished project will create an economic boon for the region. The plant is expected to create 400 jobs during construction and employ 30 people full-time. However, alliance officials maintain natural gas-fired plants such as Moundsville Power pose a threat to coal jobs in the area.

Wilkerson said the alliance is the sole remaining obstacle to constriction before the scheduled opening on June 1, 2018.

“Their obstruction is the only thing that is keeping this from happening,” he said. “We believe the OVJA is doing everything in their power to delay the project.”

Commissioners thanked Wilkerson for updating the county on the situation without further comment, before adjourning after an executive session pertaining to the County Assessor’s office behind closed doors.

On Ohio River in Marshall County, WV