Dominion to switch 3 plants to biomass
VIRGINIA - Major power producer Dominion Resources Inc's Virginia unit said it plans to convert three power stations from using coal to biomass.
If the conversion is approved, the plants could begin burning biomass in 2013, it said in a statement.
The company said the total economic impact over the 30-year life of the stations would be more than $350 million, including $30 million in local taxes and $180 million for the creation of more than 300 hundred jobs in the forestry and trucking industries.
Once converted, the power plants will generate 50 megawatts MW each and operate all the time, compared with the current peak production of 63 MW.
Biomass, a renewable energy source, uses biological material to generate electricity or heat. The company said the stations would use waste wood left from timbering operations to produce fuel.
Dominion also added that the fuel switch would meet the new emissions standards established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and reduce nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, mercury and particulate emissions.
The power stations, which started operations in 1992, are located in Altavista, Hopewell and Southampton County.
Related News
What 2018 Grid Edge Trends Reveal About 2019
WASHINGTON - Which grid edge trends will continue into 2019, and what kind of disruption is on the horizon in the coming year?
From advanced metering infrastructure endpoints to electric-vehicle chargers, grid edge venture capital investments to demand response events, hundreds of data points go into tracking new trends at the edge of the grid.
Trends across these variables tell a story of transition, but perhaps not yet transformation. Customers hold more power than ever before in 2019, with utilities and vendors innovating to take advantage of new opportunities behind the meter. Meanwhile, external factors can always throw things off-course, and reliability…
