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Project(s): View 12 related projects in PECWeb
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Released October 28, 2015 | SUGAR LAND
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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Private-equity player Panda Power Funds (Dallas, Texas) expanded its power footprint in the Mid-Atlantic region this summer when it began building a grassroot, 750-megawatt (MW), natural gas combined-cycle (NGCC) generator in Loudoun County, Virginia. The Stonewall Power Station, with a total investment value (TIV) of about $571 million, is scheduled to begin operating in mid-2017. Bechtel Corporation (San Francisco, California) is providing engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for the project.
"The Panda Stonewall project will contribute an estimated $7.1 billion to Virginia's economy during construction and the plant's first 10 years of operation," said Todd W. Carter, president and senior partner of Panda Power Funds, in a statement at the plant's groundbreaking ceremony August 6. "We are proud to support the Commonwealth's economy. We are equally proud to supply Virginia and the District of Columbia with clean, reliable energy that will support the needs of current and future generations for decades."
Panda sited the Stonewall facility about four miles from Leesburg, Virginia, a fast-growing suburb of Washington D.C. According to a June 2015 study conducted by the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis, the Washington metropolitan area is projected to add more than 410,000 new households by 2023 as a result of robust job growth, Panda said. Nearly half of those jobs will be located in Northern Virginia, with Loudoun County accounting for 9.3% of the jobs, and neighboring Fairfax County accounting for 15.5% of those jobs, the developer added.
In addition to rapid economic and population growth, the Mid-Atlantic region also has an estimated 20,000 MW of coal-fired generation that has been closed, or is scheduled to close, to meet tougher emissions rules from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Washington, D.C.). This has pushed developers like Panda and utilities like Virginia Power (Richmond, Virginia), a unit of Dominion Resources Incorporated (NYSE:D) (Richmond, Virginia), to build new gas-fired generation. For more on this issue, see April 7, 2015, article - Dominion Expects to Spend $8.5 Billion to Meet Growing Electricity Demand, and April 23, 2015, article - Dominion Unveils Plans for Another $1 Billion-plus NGCC.
The Stonewall project is Panda Power Funds' fourth large NGCC project in the Mid-Atlantic region. The other projects are:
Panda is not the only developer active in the Mid-Atlantic region. Dominion's Virginia Power unit is constructing several large NGCCs, including the 1,358-MW Brunswick County Energy Center and the 1,600-MW Greensville County Power Station. Brunswick, which is valued at about $1.3 billion, is under construction and is scheduled to begin generating electricity by May 2016. Greensville, with a TIV of about $1.2 billion, is scheduled to begin turning dirt in mid-2016 and to be operating by late 2018. Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) (Irving, Texas) is providing EPC services to both projects. Dominion also is upgrading the pollution-control equipment at its Gordonsville Energy Center in Orange County, Virginia.
Another developer, PSEG Power LLC (Trenton, New Jersey), a unit of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG) (Newark, New Jersey), last year began constructing a 735-MW NGCC in Price Georges County, Maryland. SNC-Lavalin Group Incorporated (TSE:SNC) (Montreal, Canada) is the EPC contractor for the $760 million project, which is scheduled to begin operations in late 2018.
Another Maryland NGCC project that began construction in late 2014 is the CPV St. Charles Power Station, a 725-MW project in Charles County, Maryland. Competitive Power Ventures Incorporated (Braintree, Massachusetts) owns that project and SNC-Lavalin is providing EPC services to it. That project is scheduled to go online in early 2017.
Other NGCC projects in the region that are scheduled to kick off in the near future include:
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and ten 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.
"The Panda Stonewall project will contribute an estimated $7.1 billion to Virginia's economy during construction and the plant's first 10 years of operation," said Todd W. Carter, president and senior partner of Panda Power Funds, in a statement at the plant's groundbreaking ceremony August 6. "We are proud to support the Commonwealth's economy. We are equally proud to supply Virginia and the District of Columbia with clean, reliable energy that will support the needs of current and future generations for decades."
Panda sited the Stonewall facility about four miles from Leesburg, Virginia, a fast-growing suburb of Washington D.C. According to a June 2015 study conducted by the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis, the Washington metropolitan area is projected to add more than 410,000 new households by 2023 as a result of robust job growth, Panda said. Nearly half of those jobs will be located in Northern Virginia, with Loudoun County accounting for 9.3% of the jobs, and neighboring Fairfax County accounting for 15.5% of those jobs, the developer added.
In addition to rapid economic and population growth, the Mid-Atlantic region also has an estimated 20,000 MW of coal-fired generation that has been closed, or is scheduled to close, to meet tougher emissions rules from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Washington, D.C.). This has pushed developers like Panda and utilities like Virginia Power (Richmond, Virginia), a unit of Dominion Resources Incorporated (NYSE:D) (Richmond, Virginia), to build new gas-fired generation. For more on this issue, see April 7, 2015, article - Dominion Expects to Spend $8.5 Billion to Meet Growing Electricity Demand, and April 23, 2015, article - Dominion Unveils Plans for Another $1 Billion-plus NGCC.
The Stonewall project is Panda Power Funds' fourth large NGCC project in the Mid-Atlantic region. The other projects are:
- Moxie Liberty Generation Power Plant, an 825-MW, gas-fired generator under construction in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. Gemma Power Systems LLC (Glastonbury, Connecticut) is the EPC for this $825 million project, which kicked off construction in 2013. The plant, which is expected to burn gas extracted from the Marcellus Shale, is scheduled to begin operations in March 2016 .
- Patriot Generation Power Plant, a grassroot, 800-MW, $825 million generator in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Construction kicked off in early 2014, and is scheduled to be completed in April 2016. Gemma Power Systems is providing EPC services to this project, which is expected to burn gas extracted from the Marcellus Shale.
- Mattawoman Generating Station, a 1,008-MW, $1.2 billion NGCC scheduled to be built in Prince Georges County, Maryland. Panda has not yet selected an EPC firm for this project, which is scheduled to break ground in March 2016 and to be brought online by yearend 2018.
Panda is not the only developer active in the Mid-Atlantic region. Dominion's Virginia Power unit is constructing several large NGCCs, including the 1,358-MW Brunswick County Energy Center and the 1,600-MW Greensville County Power Station. Brunswick, which is valued at about $1.3 billion, is under construction and is scheduled to begin generating electricity by May 2016. Greensville, with a TIV of about $1.2 billion, is scheduled to begin turning dirt in mid-2016 and to be operating by late 2018. Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) (Irving, Texas) is providing EPC services to both projects. Dominion also is upgrading the pollution-control equipment at its Gordonsville Energy Center in Orange County, Virginia.
Another developer, PSEG Power LLC (Trenton, New Jersey), a unit of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG) (Newark, New Jersey), last year began constructing a 735-MW NGCC in Price Georges County, Maryland. SNC-Lavalin Group Incorporated (TSE:SNC) (Montreal, Canada) is the EPC contractor for the $760 million project, which is scheduled to begin operations in late 2018.
Another Maryland NGCC project that began construction in late 2014 is the CPV St. Charles Power Station, a 725-MW project in Charles County, Maryland. Competitive Power Ventures Incorporated (Braintree, Massachusetts) owns that project and SNC-Lavalin is providing EPC services to it. That project is scheduled to go online in early 2017.
Other NGCC projects in the region that are scheduled to kick off in the near future include:
- Moundsville Energy Center, a grassroot, 525-MW, $615 million project being developed by Moundsville Power LLC (Buffalo, New York). Black & Veatch (Overland Park, Kansas) is providing EPC services to the project, which is scheduled to begin turning dirt in November 2015 and to be operating by mid-2018. The project is located in Marshall County, West Virginia.
- Beech Bottom Generating Station, a two-phase, brownfield generation project totaling 1,300 MW of capacity at a cost of about $1.4 billion, scheduled to be built in Brooke County, West Virginia. The first phase, sized at 525 MW, is scheduled to begin construction in late 2017 and to be operating by yearend 2019. The second phase, sized at 750 MW, also is scheduled to begin turning dirt in late 2017, but its completion date is mid-2020. The project developer, Energy Solutions Consortium LLC (Herndon, Virginia), expects to release a request for proposal (RFP) for an EPC firm in early 2016.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and ten 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.
