BIG TOBACCO FUNDS VA BIG SOLAR

Dominion Virginia Power Ready to Take Next Step in Solar Power Station Project; Virginia Tobacco Commission approves $5 million grant for demonstration project…
November 1, 2010 (PR Newswire via Dominion Virginia Power)

"Dominion Virginia Power is ready to take the next step in developing a solar power facility in Halifax County with the approval of a $5 million grant from the Virginia Tobacco Commission.

"The $35-million integrated solar and advanced energy storage facility is expected to begin operating in 2012, pending regulatory approvals. The company plans to ask the Virginia State Corporation Commission for approval in 2011."

click thru to NREL's Open PV project

"PJM Interconnection, the independent regional transmission company that operates the electric grid in Virginia and 12 other states between Chicago and Washington, D.C., has reported that Dominion's service area is expected to have the strongest annual growth rate in electric demand of any of its regions at 2.5 percent. Dominion is exploring several resources to close a gap of about 5,600 megawatts between the available supply of electricity and customer demand in 2019.

"Dominion Virginia Power and the Halifax County Industrial Development Authority applied in June to the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission for the [now approved] $5 million grant…[O]ther project participants are the University of Virginia Center for Electrochemical Science and Engineering and an advanced energy storage manufacturer."

click thru to the Open PV project Virginia page

"Dominion will issue a request for proposals for the engineering, procurement and construction of the 4-megawatt solar facility, which is anticipated to be located on up to 50 acres of land in Halifax County. This acreage would make it the largest solar project in Virginia. The company estimates that it will take about 100 construction jobs to build the solar facility…

"Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 27,600 megawatts of generation, 12,000 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline and 6,000 miles of electric transmission lines…"