Dominion spokesman Jim Norvelle takes exception to my reading of the State Corporation Commission rulings on coal-fired power plants proposed by Dominion and Apco. (See “SCC Nixes Apco Coal Plant — Is a Post-Coal Energy Era Soon Upon Us?“)
In its recent rejection of an Apco proposal to build a coal-fueled power plant in West Virginia, I suggested, the SCC had looked skeptically upon the application of fluidized bed combustion technology. Noting that only two such facilities existed in the United States, I referred to the technology as “relatively novel.” Arguing that the SCC’s hands had been tied by General Assembly legislation regarding a proposed Dominion plant that also would use the technology, I concluded: “Kinda makes you think that the SCC never would have OK’d the Dominion plant if given a choice, doesn’t it?”
Norvelle responds that the technology is “fully mature, with over 500 operating units worldwide, with some units in service for over 28 years.” I’ll concede the point immediately: The technology is widely used outside the United States. My bad. He also emphasized that the SCC’s problem wasn’t with the technology per se but the application of that technology on the scale that Apco proposed. Quoting the SCC ruling (my italics):
APCo’s proposed IGCC Plant would be the largest of its kind constructed to date. … The record in this case indicates that there is no proven track record for the development and implementation of large-scale IGCC generation plants like the one proposed by APCo.
That’s a fair point. I did not make it sufficiently clear in my post that Dominion’s Wise County facility would be smaller than Apco’s.
Norvelle also noted that Dominion’s cost estimates are much more solid than Apco’s. While Apco had not nailed down a fixed-cost contract for any appreciable part of its proposed West Virginia facility, Dominion has secured fixed-price contracts covering 86 percent of the cost of its proposed Wise County plant.
According to Norvelle, the SCC’s turn-down of the Apco goal-gasification has few implications for Dominion’s project. Dominion is still committed to “clean” coal as a fuel source for electricity. And quoting CEO Tom Farrell, he says: “Coal is by far our most abundant and economic domestic energy source. If we are serious about improving the nation’s energy security, we must maintain its use while protecting the environment at the same time.”
Bacon’s Bottom Line: There are still valid questions regarding the economics of the Dominion project, but I erred in my previous post: There is no basis for extrapolating from the SCC’s Apco ruling that it would have nixed the Dominion project, too, if given a chance.
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