Solar farms are growing electric power across Virginia

From an Article by Laurence Hammack, Roanoke Times, November 23, 2019

The first industrial-scale solar farm to produce electricity for Appalachian Power Co. has been approved by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

Construction of the Depot Solar Center in Campbell County is expected to begin in the spring and be completed by the end of the year, according to Ryan Gilchrist of Coronal Energy, a private company that will operate the facility.

The rows of solar panels on a 150-acre site near Rustburg will provide 15 megawatts of electricity to Appalachian, which is shifting its power generation from coal-burning power plants to more renewable energy.

“Virginia is adopting solar technology at record rates, and we are building an economy that is cleaner and greener as a result,” Gov. Ralph Northam said in a statement last month that announced the VA DEQ approval of four other solar farms.

Although about 1,000 of Appalachian’s 500,000-plus Virginia customers have solar panels at their homes or businesses, a power-purchase agreement with Coronal marks the utility’s first venture into industrial-scale solar power.

Appalachian Power is considering bids from other energy companies for more large-scale projects that will add another 200 megawatts of solar to its power portfolio, spokesman John Shepelwich said.

The utility currently gets about 60% of its electricity from coal. Another 19% comes from natural gas, 11% from hydroelectric and 7% from wind turbines.

After the Campbell County Board of Supervisors granted a special use permit last year, the Depot Solar Center went to VA DEQ for consideration of its environmental impacts.

In a Nov. 5 letter to the company, VA DEQ approved the permit with several conditions, including tree-cutting requirements to protect bats, monitoring for invasive species and landscape protection measures.

In recent years, VA DEQ has approved 39 permits for solar farms in Virginia. Thirteen of them have been built so far and are producing a total of about 400 megawatts, enough to power nearly 100,000 homes.

#########################

See also: Virginia could soon have more than 2,500 MW of solar. We just need customers | Power for the People VA by Ivy Main, September 12, 2017

Proposed Longview Power electric energy complex on Mason Dixon Line

From an Article Ben Conley, Morgantown Dominion Post, February 23, 2019

MORGANTOWN — Already operating one of the world’s most advanced and efficient coal-fired power plants, Longview Power is ready to invest an estimated $1.2 billion to build natural gas and solar power generation facilities.

Longview Power President and CEO Jeffery Keffer said the company plans to bring the new facilities online in 2020, making Longview an “all of the above” energy center.

The bulk of the investment, about $900 million, will go toward the creation of a natural gas combined cycle plant to be located near Longview’s Fort Martin Road coal facility.

While the gas plant will be significantly smaller, it will generate 1,200 megawatts, far outpacing the 710 megawatts generated by its coal-fired predecessor.

“This will be smaller, but more efficient in a lot of ways because of the type of equipment that’s used,” Keffer said of the gas-powered turbines at the heart of the plant. “We’ll be using the latest types of these so that we’ll have high efficiency. Again, the same idea that went into Longview — the latest equipment, most advanced technology and a fuel that’s abundant and easily available.”

The natural gas facility will be fed using a 6.2-mile, 20-inch gas pipeline that will run into Pennsylvania to connect with Trans Canada’s Columbia 1804 interstate transmission line.

Keffer said all necessary rights of way have been secured, and environmental studies and permitting procedures with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission are well under way. Longview is working with Thrasher Engineering on the $30 million pipeline, the majority of which will run underground.

Once the natural gas plant is completed, the staging areas used in its construction will be part of a series of solar arrays covering 350 acres near the plant and in Pennsylvania. When the sun is shining, the solar arrays will generate about 50 megawatts, offsetting a significant portion of the power used to operate the coal plant.

“The solar takes about 350 acres and produces 50 megawatts, and that’s if the sun is shining. The gas plant takes 26 acres and produces 1,200 megawatts. That gives you a sense, you know, when people say we’re going to all renewables, I’m not sure where that’s all going to take place,” Keffer said, noting the solar arrays have an estimated cost of $70 million.

He went on to say that the two-plus-year buildout will likely generate about 6,000 construction jobs. The natural gas plant will likely generate between 30 and 40 permanent jobs.

“Using the infrastructure we already have here reduces our upfront cost. Where we can also economize is just in the number of jobs,” Keffer said. “Typically a plant like this would create maybe 50 jobs, permanently. We would be able to utilize our resources already here in terms of maintenance people, our accounting people and that sort of thing.”

As incentive to build the $2.2 billion coal plant locally, Longview entered into a payment in lieu of taxes agreement with the Monongalia County Commission in 2008.

Commission President Tom Bloom said a separate agreement will be worked out regarding the upcoming improvements.

“We’re excited about the investment locally,” Bloom said. “Yes, we will need to set up another agreement. What that is, we don’t know at this time. It’s too premature to say exactly what that would look like.”