Dominion Va. Power Supports Efficiency, New Plants

ST. PAUL, Va. – A spokesman for Dominion Virginia Power said Thursday that the company agrees with the need for energy efficiency and conservation – but to meet growing demand Virginia also needs power plants like the one under construction here.

“We are proposing to do that sort of thing already,” Dominion spokesman Greg Edwards said Thursday, the day a study was formally released by power plant opponents showing that investment in energy efficiency would be a more cost-effective way than a power plant to meet energy demand.

“We outlined an extensive program for energy conservation that would both offset [12 million tons of] carbon dioxide emissions and provide a billion dollars in customer savings over the next 15 years,” Edwards said.

At a news conference Thursday, environmental organizations announced the results of a study comparing the economic of the controversial $1.8 billion power plant to the impact of a similar investment in energy efficiency.

The study showed much greater job and economic growth – and lower electricity costs – in the state from energy efficiency measures than from construction of the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center, a 585-megawatt coal-fired power plant.

A news release on Dominion’s Web site dated June 19 – less than a week before approval of the air permits for the controversial plant – outlines a program Edwards said would eliminate the need for two power plants and delay the need for two others.

“It’s exactly the kind of things that they’re talking about need to be mandated,” Edwards said. “First off, we’ll install a smart grid technology where … we can actually cycle off and on heat pumps and air conditioning units to save energy. We’re going to have incentives for residential and commercial customers to install energy-efficient lighting. We’ll offer energy audits and improvements for homes for low-income customers.”

The release calls the program “an aggressive energy conservation plan” that, once approved by the State Corporation Commission, would invest more than $600 million in energy-saving technology.

But Cale Jaffe, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center involved in the organization’s three pending legal challenges to the plant’s approval, called Dominion’s efforts “window dressing.”

Jaffe argues that the type of information released Thursday – information on power plant alternatives – was not considered by the State Corporation Commission in its decision because of state legislation to fast-track the project.

“They’ve done some very, very small pilot programs on energy efficiency, but they’ve never made a serious commitment to it,” Jaffe said of Dominion.

“We have a lot of energy out there right now that we need to capture before we need to consider adding sources, a lot of energy that is essentially wasted.”

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