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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Dominion Resources Incorporated (NYSE:D) (Richmond, Virginia) last month signed a deal with the web-services unit of Amazon.com Incorporated (NASDAQ:AMZN) (Seattle, Washington) to build five photovoltaic (PV) generation projects in Virginia totaling 180 megawatts (MW), further expanding Dominion's more into renewable energy.
Dominion purchased four 20-MW PV projects that were being developed by Virginia Solar LLC (Richmond, Virginia). These projects are located in Buckingham, New Kent, Powhatan and Sussex counties. Strata Solar L.L.C. (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) will provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for these four facilities.
Dominion also acquired a 100-MW PV project from Community Energy Solar (Radnor, Pennsylvania). That project will be built in Southampton County, Virginia. Signal Energy Constructors (Chattanooga, Tennessee) will provide EPC services for that project, Dominion said.
All five projects are expected to be operating by yearend 2017. Dominion said it expects all to qualify for the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC). Acquisition of these five projects under development follows Dominion's completion of an 80-MW PV project in October, in Accomack County, Virginia, which also was built for Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Amazon, like many other Fortune 500 companies, is greening its electricity supply in response to customer expectations that companies operate sustainably. Declining costs of renewable energy, plus the availability of federal, and sometime state, tax incentives, also contribute to Corporate America's decision to increase its use of renewable energy. For more on that trend, see January 21, 2016, article -- Corporate America Boosts Commitment to Renewable Energy.
"We continue to ramp our sustainability efforts in areas where availability of renewable energy sources are low or proposed projects are stalled, and where the energy contribution goes onto the same electric grid that powers AWS data centers," Peter DeSantis, vice president of infrastructure for AWS, said in a November 17 statement. "By enabling 10 utility-scale renewable projects in the U.S. to date, we are well-positioned to meet our latest goal of 50% renewable energy powering the AWS global infrastructure by the end of 2017. That said, we are nowhere near done. We will continue to make progress toward 100% and have many exciting initiatives planned."
"This alliance with Amazon Web Services will include the two largest solar farms in the mid-Atlantic," said Thomas F. Farrell II, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Dominion. "This solar expansion is great for Dominion, Amazon and the Commonwealth of Virginia. It helps AWS meet its renewable needs, it expands Virginia's clean electric generation fleet and it creates economic development opportunities in largely rural communities."
The recently completed Accomack 80-MW PV project, plus the five under development in Virginia, brings to 260 MW the amount of PV generation Dominion is building for Amazon's web-server business in the East Coast. AWS has a long-term goal of powering its global infrastructure business exclusively with renewable energy.
With its November 17 announcement, Dominion said its eight-state solar fleet will reach 1,400 MW by 2017, including 434 MW in North Carolina and Virginia. The company, one of the largest owners and operators of solar power in the U.S., intends to bring online at least 500 megawatts of solar generating capacity in the two-state area by 2020.
The recent PV developments are fulfilling a pledge made by Farrell in early 2015, spokesman Ryan Frazier said in an interview. Back then, Frazier said the company would develop "multiple large-scale solar projects that would total 400 megawatts of electricity" in Virginia, and they'd be online by 2020.
Aside from the projects it is building for AWS, units of Dominion have these other PV projects under development in Virginia:
Frazier, the Dominion Resources spokesman, also noted that about 500 MW of renewable energy "qualifying facilities" have been built in Dominion's regulated utility service area in northeastern North Carolina pursuant to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), a federal law enacted in 1978.
Frazier said more renewable energy projects are likely on the horizon. "We will continue to develop renewable energy projects in Virginia and North Carolina, but it would be premature to set a new goal right now," he said.
"Among the large, multi-state electric utility holding companies, Dominion has been particularly aggressive in reducing its carbon footprint," commented Britt Burt, Industrial Info's vice president of research for the Global Power Industry. "It has announced plans to close some coal-fired generation and install pollution-control equipment on other units. It is building high-efficiency natural gas generators and renewable energy generation. And it continues to keep its options open on new nuclear generation. Dominion is a true 'all of the above' energy company."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com/.
Dominion purchased four 20-MW PV projects that were being developed by Virginia Solar LLC (Richmond, Virginia). These projects are located in Buckingham, New Kent, Powhatan and Sussex counties. Strata Solar L.L.C. (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) will provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for these four facilities.
Dominion also acquired a 100-MW PV project from Community Energy Solar (Radnor, Pennsylvania). That project will be built in Southampton County, Virginia. Signal Energy Constructors (Chattanooga, Tennessee) will provide EPC services for that project, Dominion said.
All five projects are expected to be operating by yearend 2017. Dominion said it expects all to qualify for the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC). Acquisition of these five projects under development follows Dominion's completion of an 80-MW PV project in October, in Accomack County, Virginia, which also was built for Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Amazon, like many other Fortune 500 companies, is greening its electricity supply in response to customer expectations that companies operate sustainably. Declining costs of renewable energy, plus the availability of federal, and sometime state, tax incentives, also contribute to Corporate America's decision to increase its use of renewable energy. For more on that trend, see January 21, 2016, article -- Corporate America Boosts Commitment to Renewable Energy.
"We continue to ramp our sustainability efforts in areas where availability of renewable energy sources are low or proposed projects are stalled, and where the energy contribution goes onto the same electric grid that powers AWS data centers," Peter DeSantis, vice president of infrastructure for AWS, said in a November 17 statement. "By enabling 10 utility-scale renewable projects in the U.S. to date, we are well-positioned to meet our latest goal of 50% renewable energy powering the AWS global infrastructure by the end of 2017. That said, we are nowhere near done. We will continue to make progress toward 100% and have many exciting initiatives planned."
"This alliance with Amazon Web Services will include the two largest solar farms in the mid-Atlantic," said Thomas F. Farrell II, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Dominion. "This solar expansion is great for Dominion, Amazon and the Commonwealth of Virginia. It helps AWS meet its renewable needs, it expands Virginia's clean electric generation fleet and it creates economic development opportunities in largely rural communities."
The recently completed Accomack 80-MW PV project, plus the five under development in Virginia, brings to 260 MW the amount of PV generation Dominion is building for Amazon's web-server business in the East Coast. AWS has a long-term goal of powering its global infrastructure business exclusively with renewable energy.
With its November 17 announcement, Dominion said its eight-state solar fleet will reach 1,400 MW by 2017, including 434 MW in North Carolina and Virginia. The company, one of the largest owners and operators of solar power in the U.S., intends to bring online at least 500 megawatts of solar generating capacity in the two-state area by 2020.
The recent PV developments are fulfilling a pledge made by Farrell in early 2015, spokesman Ryan Frazier said in an interview. Back then, Frazier said the company would develop "multiple large-scale solar projects that would total 400 megawatts of electricity" in Virginia, and they'd be online by 2020.
Aside from the projects it is building for AWS, units of Dominion have these other PV projects under development in Virginia:
- Woodland PV Solar Center, a 20-MW, $46-million project that is under construction in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. That project is scheduled to be operating by the end of 2016.
- University of Virginia Hollyfield PV Solar Farm, a 17-MW project valued at about $33 million. This project will be built in King William County. Construction kickoff is scheduled in early 2018, and the project should be operating by the fourth quarter of 2018.
- Remington PV Solar Facility, a 20-MW, $40 million project that will be built in Fauquier County. That project is scheduled to begin turning dirt early in 2017, and a late-2017 in-service date is planned.
- Scott PV Solar Station, a 17-MW, $39-million project currently under construction. That project is slated to finish construction by the end of 2016.
- Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana, a 21-MW, $45 million project scheduled to be built in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2017, and the project is slated to begin generating electricity by yearend 2017.
- Whitehouse PV Solar, a 20-MW, $46 million project under construction in Louisa County. This project is nearly finished construction.
Frazier, the Dominion Resources spokesman, also noted that about 500 MW of renewable energy "qualifying facilities" have been built in Dominion's regulated utility service area in northeastern North Carolina pursuant to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), a federal law enacted in 1978.
Frazier said more renewable energy projects are likely on the horizon. "We will continue to develop renewable energy projects in Virginia and North Carolina, but it would be premature to set a new goal right now," he said.
"Among the large, multi-state electric utility holding companies, Dominion has been particularly aggressive in reducing its carbon footprint," commented Britt Burt, Industrial Info's vice president of research for the Global Power Industry. "It has announced plans to close some coal-fired generation and install pollution-control equipment on other units. It is building high-efficiency natural gas generators and renewable energy generation. And it continues to keep its options open on new nuclear generation. Dominion is a true 'all of the above' energy company."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com/.
