Transmission lines sit in front of Dominion Energy’s Chesterfield Power Plant in Chesterfield, Va. (Photo by Charles Paullin/Inside Climate News)
The controversial Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center project has cleared its last major regulatory hurdle, gaining approval from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
In a letter dated December 19DEQ officials have given the green light to operate the 944-megawatt peaking plant in Chesterfield, near the Dutch Gap Conservation Area south of Richmond.
Dominion Energy argued that the plant is needed to meet energy demand during the hottest and coldest days of the year. The new plant is expected to operate approximately 30% of the time and can be commissioned in just a few minutes. It is planned to be built on the site of a former coal-fired power station that was decommissioned in 2018 after 70 years of operation. Two gas turbines currently remain in operation at the site, providing approximately 400 megawatts of electricity.
“This project will provide reliable energy to hundreds of thousands of homes, businesses, schools and hospitals in Chesterfield and beyond. As part of our overall energy strategy, it will ensure our region has the reliable energy we need to continue to grow and prosper,” said Dominion spokesperson Jeremy Slayton.
Fenced communities near the project were rally against it for years. They argue that air monitors inside the towers and in the surrounding area do not fully capture the pollution emitted by the plant. Although emissions would be significantly lower than the previous coal plant, advocates said residents living nearby should not be subject to them at all.
“We are deeply disappointed that DEQ sides with corporate polluters and ignores the health impacts of air pollution caused by this dirty methane-fueled power plant on our community,” said Glen Besa, president of Friends of Chesterfield.
The State Corporations Commission approved the project in November and also allowed the company to recoup $1.47 billion from taxpayers to cover construction costs. The project is expected to come online in 2029 if construction begins in 2026, as Dominion hopes.
The Southern Environmental Law Center recently filed a petition on behalf of Appalachian Voices, Chesterfield NAACP and Mothers Out Front, challenging the final order, prompting the SCC to suspend the order while it considers the merits of the case. The petition argues that the project does not comply with the Virginia Clean Economy Act or the standards outlined in the Virginia Environmental Justice Act.
“We hope the commission will see and recognize the injustice of continuing to force particular communities to bear the brunt of pollution from fossil fuel infrastructure,” said SELC senior attorney Grayson Holmes. “Since this is the first case assessing what constitutes a ‘reliability threat,’ sufficient to overcome the Clean Economy Act’s presumption against construction of new gas plants, we also hope that the Commission will recognize that allowing Dominion to invoke this narrow exception based on flimsy evidence sets a bad precedent.”
Dominion said the project is critical to maintaining grid reliability. It would be the first of six gas plants the company said would be needed in its integrated resource plan to meet rapidly growing demand, largely driven by energy-hungry data centers across the state.
“We support the SCC’s approval of the project. It was approved after a year of exhaustive review, an extensive public hearing and the participation of thousands of Virginians,” Slayton said.
The petition is currently being reviewed by the SCC, and it could take weeks or months before the appeal is resolved, depending on whether the commission requests additional information.
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