Dominion Virginia Power has commenced commercial operations of its 580MW Bear Garden Power Station in central Virginia, US.
The combined-cycle facility, located about 60 miles west of Richmond in Buckingham County, features two combustion turbine units fired by natural gas with oil as a backup fuel source.
The $619m project is expected to generate enough electricity to power approximately 146,000 homes.
Dominion Generation CEO David Christian said Bear Garden is one of several planned additions to the company’s generating fleet to come on-line as part of its ‘Powering Virginia’ strategy.
The Virginia State Corporation approved the power station in March 2009 and construction on the project began a month later.