Old Dominion Electric Cooperative Considers Building New Plant in Virginia
By Carolyn Shapiro, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.
Jan. 3–Old Dominion Electric Cooperative is considering construction of a new power plant in Surry or Sussex county.
Old Dominion, based in Glen Allen, announced Wednesday that it is reviewing the feasibility of building a generator on a 1,600-acre site in the town of Dendron in Surry County or a 1,200-acre parcel in Sussex County.
Old Dominion is a nonprofit power-generation company owned by 12 member electricity cooperatives that serve mostly rural areas, including about 43,000 customers on the Eastern Shore and in western Hampton Roads communities.
Fast growth in its rural territory has led the company to seek new electricity sources to meet increasing demand. The “base load” plant would provide power for typical daily customer usage, as opposed to additional supply needed at “peak” times of year.
Old Dominion has yet to decide how many megawatts the plant would produce or what type of fuel would run it. The company plans to meet with officials and residents in both communities and would need the approval of state agencies including the Department of Environmental Quality and the State Corporation Commission.
“We are really at very preliminary stages,” said Jeb Hockman, an Old Dominion spokesman. “We figure it’s an eight-to-10-year project.”
Old Dominion’s members include A&N Electric Cooperative, which on Wednesday completed its acquisition of Delmarva Power’s operations on the Eastern Shore. The $44 million transaction made A&N, based in Tasley, the sole electricity provider to more than 33,000 customers in Accomack and Northampton counties.
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