Dominion Virginia Power filed with the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) for certificates of public convenience and necessity for three separate large-scale solar projects with a total capacity of 56MW. The projects would become commercial operational by December of 2016.
"These three projects represent the next step in Dominion's commitment to build 400MW of large-scale solar by 2020," said David A. Christian, chief executive officer for Dominion Generation. "Combined with our proposed solar facility near Remington, we are expecting to build 76MW of solar in 2016 as we continue moving forward to put more renewable energy on the grid for our customers."
The three projects were shown to be beneficial to customers as a result of a competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) the company issued in July. Meanwhile, the company also is pursuing power purchase agreements with other solar developers as a result of the RFP.
If approved by the SCC, construction would start next spring. The total cost of the three projects is expected to be about $129.5 million, excluding financing costs. The company is requesting that it be allowed to begin recovering the cost of the projects through a rate adjustment clause (RAC) or "rider" that would add 7 cents to the average residential bill of $113.24. If approved the rider would take effect Dec. 1, 2016.
The three projects are: the 17MW Scott Solar facility in Powhatan County; the 20MW Whitehouse Solar facility in Louisa County; and the 19MW Woodland Solar project in Isle of Wight County. The projects are expected to generate power for 3,500 homes when fully operated.
