LNG, Chemicals Drive Top Capital-Spending Projects in U.S. Mid-Atlantic, Although Power Projects Face Delays

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Industrial Info is tracking almost $116 billion in active projects in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region, more than 40% of which can be found in the highest-value projects. These include long-anticipated nuclear-power plant additions and export terminals for liquefied natural gas (LNG), as well as several offshore windfarms and passenger rail-system expansions.

Click on the image at right to see a graph detailing the top 10 counties in the Mid-Atlantic region for project spending.

The region includes Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

$15 Billion: SCANA Corporation's Unit Additions at Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Power Station in Jenkinsville, South Carolina
The cost of SCANA Corporation's (NYSE:SCG) (Cayce, South Carolina) addition of units 2 and 3 at the Summer plant is now $4 billion higher than it was a few years ago. Two Westinghouse-Toshiba water reactors will drive a pair of steam turbine generators, each with a capacity of 1,100 megawatts (MW). Chicago Bridge & Iron Company (NYSE:CBI) (The Hague, Netherlands) is performing engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services.

For more information, see August 7, 2015, article - Nuclear Projects Lead Top 10 U.S. Counties for Power Industry Spending, and July 14, 2015, article - Nuclear Power Update: Finish Line in Sight for Watts Bar Unit 2, but Delays and Cost Overruns Still Plague Vogtle and Summer Unit Additions.

For details on this expansion project, see Industrial Info's project report.

$4 Billion: Dominion Incorporated's Cove Point LNG Liquefaction Plant in Lusby, Maryland
Under construction and scheduled to be brought online in late 2017, Cove Point is set to become the second operational export facility for LNG in the contiguous U.S. Earlier this summer, the U.S. Department of Energy permitted the Cove Point facility to export LNG to countries that do not have free trade agreements (FTAs) with the U.S.

Cove Point already had been authorized to export up to a gas equivalent of 1 billion cubic feet per day to FTA nations; 20-year tolling agreements have been reached with Sumitomo Corporation (Tokyo, Japan), Tokyo Gas (Tokyo) and GAIL Global (New Delhi, India). Recently, the project received more good news when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed a challenge to the project from environmental activists. Kiewit Construction Company (Houston, Texas) and IHI E&C International Corporation (Houston) are performing EPC services for the project.

For details on this construction project, see Industrial Info's project report.

The Chemical Processing Industry is one of the biggest spenders in the Mid-Atlantic region, with two closely watched projects in different stages of development:

$5 Billion: Appalachian Shale Cracker Enterprise's Petrochemical Complex in Washington, West Virginia
For details on this construction project, see Industrial Info's project report.

$4.8 Billion: U.S. Department of Energy's Mixed Oxide Fuel-Fabrication Facility in Aiken, South Carolina
For details on this construction project, see Industrial Info's project report.

The Pharmaceutical & Biotech Industry's strongest regional representation in the U.S. is in the Mid-Atlantic, as can be seen in Novo Nordisk's (NYSE:NVO) (Bagsvaerd, Denmark) plans for an insulin-production facility:

$1.85 Billion: Novo Nordisk's Clayton Insulin Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients in Clayton, North Carolina
For details on this construction project, see Industrial Info's project report.

Two projects are part of Atlantic Wind Connection's Delmarva Energy Link, a 320-kilovolt, high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission system that will connect offshore windfarms to the coasts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. The Atlantic Wind Connection is a broader transmission project led by independent transmission company Trans-Elect Development Company (Chevy Chase, Maryland):

$1.7 Billion: Dominion Incorporated's Fentress Substation-Based Line in Virginia
For details on this construction project, see Industrial Info's project report.

$1.7 Billion: Exelon Corporation's Graceton Substation-Based Line in Maryland
For details on this construction project, see Industrial Info's project report.

These projects could face delays, however, as several wind-energy projects in the region have been stalled. Among them is a high-value project offshore of Virginia Beach, which Dominion Resources Incorporated (NYSE:D) (Richmond, Virginia) said earlier this month carried too high a cost for its wind turbines. The two-turbine pilot project had been scheduled to be operational in 2017, but now has been pushed back to 2018; the actual plant will not kick off until first-quarter 2023 at the earliest:

$6 Billion: Dominion Incorporated's Hampton Roads Offshore Windfarm near Virginia Beach, Virginia
For details on this construction project, see Industrial Info's project report.

The remaining projects are for passenger rail-system expansions. But, as with similar projects on the West Coast, these often face lengthy delays while awaiting government funding, and sometimes are just canceled:

$2.78 Billion: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's Dulles Corridor Metrorail Expansion in Arlington, Virginia
For details on this expansion project, see Industrial Info's project report.

$2.57 Billion: Maryland Department of Transportation's Red Line Expansion in Baltimore, Maryland
For details on this expansion project, see Industrial Info's project report.

$2.37 Billion: Maryland Department of Transportation's Purple Line Expansion in Baltimore, Maryland
For details on this expansion project, see Industrial Info's project report.

For information on similar projects, see August 25, 2015, article - LNG Export Terminals Lead 10 Top-Valued Projects on U.S. West Coast, with Hydropower Not Far Behind.

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.