Virginia

Tech giant Google has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) to buy at least 200 MW of energy from CFS’s planned fusion-based power plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia.

Dominion Energy has asked Virginia officials to approve its request to build a new 1-GW natural gas-fired power plant, as the company seeks to add more generation capacity to help serve surging demand from data centers.

A planning commission in a Virginia county has voted unanimously to recommend denial of a rezoning application from Balico LLC, an industrial developer seeking to build multiple natural gas-fired generation units as part of a large data center campus. The Pittsylvania County planning commission voted Jan. 7 to deny Virginia-based Balico permission to proceed with […]

Virginia’s governor and other officials on Dec. 17 said the state has a plan for the world’s first nuclear fusion power plant. Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) on Tuesday announced it will build a 400-MW fusion facility on a 100-acre site at the James River Industrial Park in Chesterfield County. Massachusetts-based CFS, founded in 2018, and […]

Driven by artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and the digital transformation, U.S. data centers consumed an estimated 150 TWh of electricity in 2023—equivalent to around 3% of the nation’s power demand. Globally, data center demand hovered at 340 TWh in 2023—about 1.3% of worldwide electricity use. Multiple sources project this demand will surge dramatically through […]

EVLO Energy Storage, a fully integrated battery energy storage systems (BESS) provider and wholly owned subsidiary of Hydro-Québec, on Nov. 20 announced a major achievement in its relationship with investor-owned utility Dominion Energy. EVLO will develop a BESS with enhanced fire and safety features that meet and exceed Dominion’s unique safety specifications. The augmented version […]

Dominion Energy has sold a 50% noncontrolling interest in its 2.6-GW Coastal Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) commercial project to infrastructure investment group Stonepeak. The Richmond, Virginia–headquartered utility in an Oct. 25 financial filing said it received proceeds of $2.6 billion for the sale. The amount represents “reimbursement of approximately 50% of project-to-date capital investment.” […]

A Virginia-based energy company plans to build a natural gas-fired power plant along with multiple data centers on some 2,200 acres in that state, according to documents filed with local planning authorities. Reports say the power plant could have as much as 3,500 MW of generation capacity, which would make it the largest such facility […]

The power generation sector is looking at numerous ways to provide enough electricity to satisfy demand from data centers. Bloomberg Intelligence recently said its research shows data centers, buildings filled with servers and other computing equipment for data storage and networking that supports operations and artificial intelligence (AI), could be responsible for as much as […]

Japan’s Sumitomo Corp and Perennial Power Holdings Inc., a subsidiary of Sumitomo Corp. of Americas, have set up a joint venture with Virginia-based CEP Solar LLC to deliver renewable energy projects across Virginia. The companies said the JV will provide support for the state’s energy supply, in part to help with power demand from Virginia’s […]

This month, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the Commonwealth’s largest utility, Dominion Energy, announced a request for proposal (RFP) for the development and construction of an advanced nuclear small modular reactor (SMR), and the governor signed Senate Bill 454 designed to facilitate the research, design, construction, and deployment of what will be America’s first commercial […]

Virginia-based AES Corp. said the company added 3.5 GW of new renewable energy generation capacity to its global portfolio in 2023, an amount nearly double that built in the previous year. The projects, including solar power, wind power, and energy storage, were built in several locations worldwide, including the U.S., and will serve a variety […]

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and Avangrid said the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind installation sent electricity to the power grid for the first time late on Jan. 2. The companies on Jan. 3 said Vineyard Wind 1, as part of its initial commissioning, delivered about 5 MW of electricity to the New England grid at […]

Dominion Energy is revving up its efforts to build the 2.6-GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) commercial project before 2027 to meet state requirements, it said in a detailed filing for the $9.8 billion project submitted to the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) on Nov. 5.  CVOW, which will be sited on a federal lease […]

The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) on Aug. 23 rattled American Electric Power’s (AEP’s) plans to operate the 2.9-GW John Amos and 1.3-GW Mountaineer coal power plants through 2040 when it partly denied cost recovery for expenses that the West Virginia plants need to comply with the federal Steam Electric Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELG) rule. The […]

A Michigan-based energy company that planned to build a 1.1-GW gas-fired power plant in Virginia has pulled the plug on the project. NOVI Energy on July 9 said it would abandon development of the C4GT plant in Charles City County, which is southeast of Richmond. The project, one of two gas-fired plants planned for the […]

General Electric (GE) has filed a lawsuit accusing “willful and malicious misappropriation of GE’s trade secrets” by Siemens Energy, charging that a current Siemens employee “knowingly and surreptitiously” received GE intellectual property, which led to Siemens using the information to improve its own bids for lucrative contracts supplying gas turbines to utilities. GE in the […]

American Electric Power (AEP) will shut down or refuel 5.6 GW of its 2020 coal-fired power fleet by 2030 to comply with environmental rules—including recent revisions governing federal coal ash and effluent limitations—and rebalance its portfolio in a bid to meet ambitious climate goals.  The move is bold for the Columbus, Ohio-based generating giant, which […]

Region’s largest solar project will provide clean energy to thousands of residents DANVILLE, Va., Oct. 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Danville Utilities, in partnership with CS Energy LLC, Navisun LLC, and TurningPoint Energy, has completed a 14 MW DC utility-scale solar project in Danville, Virginia. The renewable energy project is the city’s largest solar development to date. […]

Three major gas-fired power projects—a total of 2.1 GW—in Eastern competitive markets that are slated to come online between 2023 and 2025 have chosen hydrogen pathways to ensure their long-term viability as states increasingly emphasize energy system decarbonization.  The plants, which represent a total investment of $3 billion, will adopt integrated green hydrogen solution packages […]

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. (May 21, 2020) – The Borough of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, a “clean, green, safe, and healthy community” which serves as the County Seat of Franklin County and is home to the largest municipal electric utility in the state, and Sun Tribe, a Charlottesville-based company which today serves as one of the most experienced public […]

Virginia on April 12 became the latest state to commit to a phase-out of fossil fuel-powered electricity generation, as Gov. Ralph Northam signed the Virginia Economy Act into law. The legislation sets new requirements for energy efficiency among the state’s leading utility companies, and also requires most of the state’s six remaining coal-fired power plants […]

RICHMOND, Virginia (Feb. 27, 2020) – After a late-night vote, Virginia will soon become the first southern state to participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a carbon-cutting program for power plants that that will also direct more than $100 million annually to programs that will benefit all Virginians, particularly struggling families. The House of […]

An energy and finance research group on Feb. 18 said Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy’s (SGRE’s) offshore wind installations make it far and away the market leader in that category, while Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas continues to lead the onshore and overall wind turbine market. The report published Tuesday from BloombergNEF (BNEF) said Vestas took […]

Dominion Energy’s proposed 2.64-GW Virginia Offshore Wind project—the world’s largest single offshore wind project proposed to date—will likely feature turbines supplied by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE). A Jan. 7-announced preferred supplier agreement signed by the two companies could give the wind turbine maker a stronghold in the burgeoning offshore wind U.S. market. While the […]

Dominion Energy announced plans for a new 500-MW natural gas-fired power plant and also has taken over a solar farm project in Pittsylvania County in Virginia, with the company saying it would invest about $330 million in the two projects. The Nov. 1 announcement came one day after Dominion said it would it would add […]

North Carolina officials have ordered Duke Energy to excavate all its coal ash storage ponds in the state, saying the utility’s current plan for its coal ash sites does not sufficiently protect groundwater. The directive issued April 1 comes after regulators in other states, including Virginia, issued similar rulings regarding coal ash disposal in those […]

Charlottesville, VA (January 4, 2018) — Apex Clean Energy today announced the purchase of 442.5 MW of solar projects across Virginia from renewable energy developer SolUnesco. This acquisition expands Apex’s nationwide portfolio of advanced solar projects to more than 3 GW, approximately 700 MW of that situated in the Commonwealth. “Apex continuously seeks to grow our utility-scale […]

Dominion Energy has filed an application to extend the operating licenses for two 45-year-old nuclear reactors at the Surry Power Station through 2052 and 2053—when they will be 80 years old.  Surry’s Unit 1 and 2, located near Newport News, Virginia, are three-loop Westinghouse pressurized water reactors (PWRs) that began operation in December 1972 and […]

General Electric (GE), long considered the most-prominent business in Schenectady, New York, on August 7 announced another 225 job cuts at its main campus in the city. The announcement comes as GE continues to restructure its operations amid a downturn in global demand for the company’s turbines. GE cut about 110 jobs at the Schenectady […]