Tag: Dominion
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Inside the Facebook Solar Deal
As part of the $1 billion Facebook data-center deal, Dominion Energy Virginia will file a request with the State Corporation Commission to create a new kind of solar tariff called Schedule RF. (The RF stands for Renewable Facility.) The tariff, if approved, could be used by other big customers seeking renewable energy. “We came together…
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Trump Nixes Clean Power Plan, Gas and Solar Still Rule
President Trump has never hidden his dislike of his predecessor’s Clean Power Plan, which would have required the 50 states to order their electric utilities to curtail carbon dioxide emissions in the cause of combating global warming. Nine months into the Trump administration, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Scott Pruitt finally has announced formal steps…
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Crunching Numbers on the Facebook Deal
Facebook’s $1 billion announcement is a big deal for Henrico County and for Virginia. The social media giant will invest $750 million to build a data center complex in Henrico’s White Oak Technology Park, and Dominion Virginia Energy Virginia will spend roughly $250 million to supply the facility with “100 percent renewable energy.” It is…
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Buried Lines and Microgrids
Virginia has enjoyed a welcome respite from meteorological history, having dodged full-fledged hurricanes since Hurricane Isabel struck the Old Dominion in 2003 and Hurricane Gaston in 2004. But sooner or later, we’ll get hammered again. After surveying the devastation of Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria, made worse by the total collapse of the territory’s electric…
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Dominion Touts Economic Benefits of Pumped-Storage Project
A proposed pumped hydroelectric storage power station in Southwest Virginia would bring more than $576 million in economic benefits to the Commonwealth, including $320 million in economic impact for Southwest Virginia, according to a study prepared by Richmond-based Chmura Economics & Analytics and commissioned by Dominion Energy. The hydroelectric project, proposed by Dominion Energy, would…
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Consumer Group Calls for Scrapping North Anna 3
Dominion Energy may have declared a “pause” in the development of a third nuclear unit at its North Anna Power Station, but a consumer advocacy group says that’s not good enough. It’s time to shut down the project permanently. “Dominion needs to kill North Anna to protect rate payers,” said Irene Leech,…
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Is Dominion Generating Millions in Excess Profits? It Depends on Who’s Doing the Accounting.
The SCC says Dominion generated up to $395 million in excess revenue in 2016 under the electric rate freeze. Dominion says the SCC is inflating the numbers. Depending on how you crunch the numbers, Dominion Energy Virginia (DEV) is earning between $221 million and $252 million in excess profits. Had the company not expensed nearly…
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Do Utilities and Coal Companies Run Virginia? Hardly.
Vivian Thomson argues that utilities and coal companies dominate Virginia’s energy policy. Her simplistic view ignores the reality that environmentalists wield significant power now. Vivian E. Thomson has a big beef with state government. The University of Virginia environmental sciences professor contends that the political system in the Old Dominion is rigged in favor of…
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Pipelines and “Environmental Justice”
As I was perusing the federal court ruling on the Sierra Club vs. FERC lawsuit (see previous post), I encountered a realm of administrative law with which I was entirely unfamiliar: environmental justice. I’d heard of the concept, of course; I just didn’t realize that it had insinuated itself into environmental impact statements (EISs) for…
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Federal Pipeline Ruling a Big Deal… Or Maybe Not
Environmentalists notched a win yesterday when the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia issued a ruling finding that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) had failed to properly take into account the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on climate change when approving the Southeast Markets Pipeline Project more than a year ago.…
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A 40-Year Lease on Life for Transmission Tower Foundations
In 1968 Dominion Energy Virginia erected a series of 18 towers across the James River to carry two transmission lines from south of the river to points in Newport News. The company built the tower foundations with marine-grade, corrosion-resistant steel that was billed to last for decades. By the 1990s, however, it was evident that…
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The Shamanistic Logic of Climate Science
I’ve been mixing it up with Lowell Feld, publisher of Blue Virginia, who took exception to my argument that the debacle in Charlottesville represented a clash between the far Right and far Left. He accused me of “moral equivalency,” which is absurd, for I have thoroughly denounced the white nationalists who provoked the confrontation and…
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A Substation in Time Saves Nine
The 2013 sniper attack on Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s Metcalf transmission substation was a wake-up call for the electric power industry. A team of riflemen knocked out the facility near San Jose, Calif., by firing upon and severely damaging 17 transformers. Thanks to redundancy in the grid, PG&E was able to prevent blackouts by…
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Pipeline Passes FERC Environmental Review
While the proposed 605-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) would have temporary adverse impacts on people and the environment, the impact can be reduced to “less-than-significant levels,” if the project is constructed and operated in compliance with federal standards, declared the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in a final Environmental Impact Statement issued today. Read the EIS here.…
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Dominion Wins OK on Switching Station
The James City County Board of Supervisors approved yesterday a Dominion Energy request to build a switching station needed to connect the proposed 500 kV Surry-Skiffes transmission line to the electric grid on the Virginia Peninsula. The action eliminates the last substantive hurdle for the project, which triggered a massive outcry on the grounds that…