Dominion has announced plans to invest some $500 million installing emissions control equipment on coal-fired power stations in Virginia.
The installation between 2008 and 2015 will reduce SOx, NOx and mercury emissions as required by the stringent new emissions reductions required by the federal Clean Air Interstate and Mercury rules.
The six unit 1,600 MW Chesterfield Power Station near Richmond is the largest fossil-fuelled station in the state, with four units operating on coal and two primarily on natural gas.
Dominion, which had already installed NOx reduction systems on three of Chesterfield’s four coal units, has now begun construction on a scrubber for the largest unit to be in operation in 2008.
Plans call for scrubbers on the other three coal units at Chesterfield to be in operation in 2010. In addition, Dominion will construct a bag house, which will reduce particulate emissions on Unit 6.
Similar construction projects are planned for Dominion’s Chesapeake Energy Center on the Elizabeth River in Chesapeake and Yorktown Power Station on the York River in Yorktown. Dominion plans to install scrubbers on Chesapeake Units 1, 2, 3 and 4 by 2010. The company plans to construct scrubbers on Yorktown Unit 1 by 2010 and on Yorktown Unit 2 by 2015.