"Exploding electricity needs are pushing Virginia’s largest utility to seek new gas plants — despite a state mandate to eliminate fossil fuels by 2045."
"Known as the data center capital of the world, Virginia offers a crucial test case for electric utilities: Can they meet power demand from the explosion of AI while keeping bills affordable and slashing carbon emissions?
Many experts fear that Dominion Energy, Virginia’s largest utility, is failing that test.
In July, the company won approval from state regulators for its plan to construct a raft of new fossil-fueled plants over the next 15 years — despite a Virginia law that discourages such plants and requires them to phase out completely by 2045.
Now, Dominion is asking the same regulators for permission to build the first of those facilities: a 944-megawatt “peaker” complex that would operate only when demand is at its highest. The utility says the four-unit “reliability center” in Chesterfield County, just outside Richmond, is the best way to meet a surge in electricity needs and warrants an exception to the state’s decarbonization law.
But in a flurry of paper filings over the last month, clean energy advocates and industry groups disagreed — acknowledging a growing demand for power but maintaining that Dominion ignored a range of alternatives in order to justify the new gas complex. Even the nonpartisan expert staff for the regulatory body, the State Corporation Commission, criticized Dominion’s rationale for the permit."
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