Tenaska holding public meeting on new power station

By Heather Michon
Correspondent

Nebraska-based energy company Tenaska has announced plans to build a new natural gas-powered plant in Fluvanna County, expanding its presence in the area with a second facility adjacent to its existing generation station near Scottsville. 

The company will be holding a “community meeting” at Fluvanna County High School on Thursday night (Aug. 14) to introduce residents to the planned Expedition Generating Station.

Energy reliability

The facility will be built on about 50 acres on a 425-acre parcel of land owned by the company, just across from the existing power plant on Branch Road. The Transco pipeline would provide natural gas.

Designed to generate up to 1540 megawatts (MW) – enough electricity to power 1.5 million homes –  company officials say the project is intended to meet the growing regional need for electricity and to increase the reliability of the power grid. 

Jerrod Pitts, senior director of project development for Tenaska, said the company is working to obtain a generation interconnection agreement with Dominion Energy and with PJM Interconnection, the body that regulates the power grid across 13 states. 

The agreement “would allow for the project to come online and provide wholesale energy into the PJM market and will also help meet very important capacity needs within the PJM region and the PJM capacity market.”

Expedition Generating Station is one of 51 projects selected as part of PJM’s recent Reliability Resource Initiative, designed to increase the stability of the regional power supply.

Regulatory process

This project faces a long regulatory process, lasting up to two years. The current timeline envisions construction starting in late 2027 and the plant coming online in 2030 or 2031.

The first step is winning special-use permits from Fluvanna County. Once these local permits are approved, they can then go on to the state regulators at the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the State Corporation Commission (SCC).

Economic impact

If approved, the plant is expected to generate more than 1,400 temporary construction jobs and 29 permanent positions once operational.

Tenaska anticipates that the project could generate up to $250 million in tax revenue over 30 years, with $14 million annually in the first five years.  

Community concerns

At a meeting held just for those who live in the area, company spokesperson Timberly Ross said the main concerns were over noise pollution and the impact on local roads. 

She said the company is working to address those issues as they develop their final plans.

However, the project is likely to gain some scrutiny from local and regional environmental and other groups concerned with the impact of gas-fired power stations on air and water quality.

Community members are invited to bring their questions and concerns to the Community Meeting on Thursday, Aug. 14, at Fluvanna County High School. The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m.