OREANDA-NEWS. Dominion Virginia Power plans to build its third new combined-cycle natural gas plant at a site in Greensville County, Virginia, where the utility may also install a large-scale solar project.

Virginia Power selected the 1,600MW Greensville project after issuing a solicitation for baseload and intermediate power in November 2014. The \$1bn plant is expected to go into service in 2019 and will be the state's largest combined-cycle plant.

Dominion said the solicitation attracted several responses but the company's Greensville project was determined to be the most beneficial for customers.

Dominion late last year brought the 1,329MW Warren County combined-cycle gas plant on line and construction is 58pc complete at the 1,358MW Brunswick County plant scheduled to come on line in mid-2016.

Dominion's Virginia territory is encountering higher rates of growth than the rest of PJM, in part from energy-intensive Internet data server operations in northern Virginia. Overall PJM demand is expected to stay relatively flat for the next decade.

PJM West round-the-clock power assessments average \$38/MWh for calendar 2019, flat to 2016. But gas spark spreads in the same period fall by a third, a reflection of the projected robust growth in Appalachian shale gas supply.

Dominion chief executive Thomas Farrell said the company may need to retire 3,500MW of coal-fired generation capacity in Virginia by 2030 to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed carbon rule because of deeper mandated emission rate reductions for Virginia than in nearby states.

The Greensville plant will be served by two gas pipelines: a lateral connecting to Williams' Transcontinental (Transco) gas pipeline and Dominion's proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

Transco for decades moved Gulf coast supplies to the northeast gas markets but multiple pipeline projects will result in the Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania emerging as the only source of supply for Transco's mid-Atlantic segment.

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a 550-mile (885km) line that will move 1.5 Bcf/d (42mn m?/d) of Marcellus and Utica shale gas to Virginia and North Carolina.

Because of the site's large size, Dominion is also exploring building a solar project there to help meet a commitment to add 400MW of solar capacity in the state by 2020.

The utility will apply to the State Corporation Commission for a certificate of public convenience and necessity in July and begin construction on the Greensville plant in mid-2016.