US utility Dominion Energy has submitted a request for approval with Virginia's State Corporation Commission (SCC) to build and operate a new 1GW gas plant to bolster its energy generation profile in the face of surging data center power demand.
Dominion filed for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN), which constitutes permission to construct the facility and includes the issuance of the required air quality and water appropriation permits to construct the proposed Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center (CERC).
The project was initially proposed at the James River Industrial Center. However, last summer, the utility announced that it would build the new capacity at the existing Chesterfield Power Station.
CERC will include four natural gas-powered simple cycle turbines, each with a capacity of 250MW, and will not require any new pipelines or transmission infrastructure. If approved, construction is expected to begin in 2026, with operations slated for 2029.
The project has faced opposition from local community members and environmental pressure groups who argue that the new plant will add to air pollution in an area already burdened by years of pollution from coal and gas plants.
Local community members are continuing to challenge the County’s zoning determination, most recently at the Chesterfield County Circuit Court.
US environmental group the Southern Environmental Law Center's staff attorney Rachel James released a statement commenting on the latest filing.
“Adding more pollution to an already overburdened community is unacceptable, especially when there are clean energy alternatives that can meet the energy and capacity need the gas plant is meant to serve.”
The plant would be the first major new natural gas site built by Dominion in recent years. The decision comes off the back of its Q4 earnings call, where the utility reported record levels of data center power capacity under contract. The utility said it has approximately 40GW in various stages of contracting as of December 2024. This compares to 21GW in July 2024, an 88 percent increase.
To meet the projected demand, Dominion has adopted an “all of the above” approach to power generation, which has led to it expanding the capacity of several of its existing natural gas plants. In January, Dominion reported that it was set to expand its 645MW Possum Point Power Station in Prince William County, Virginia, by 44MW.
US utilities have increasingly turned to natural gas as a means to meet the surging electricity demand of data centers. A recent report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), which focused on Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, found that utilities in these states plan to build more than 20GW of natural gas power plants by 2040.
Data center demand is the major driver, especially in Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia. The report found that, in these states, data centers are responsible for between 65 percent and more than 85 percent of projected growth.
