Dominion Virginia asks for 300-MW plant expansion

LOS ANGELES, April 19 (Reuters) - Dominion Resources Inc. (D.N) unit Dominion Virginia Power said on Thursday it had asked state regulators to approve an expansion of a natural gas-fired plant and construction of a high-voltage transmission line to serve fast-growing northern Virginia.

Plans were submitted with the Virginia State Corporation Commission for a $135 million power plant expansion at the Ladysmith Power Station near Fredericksburg to open by August 2008, Dominion said. It calls for construction of two 150-MW units, which would double the power output of Ladysmith.

Also, Dominion wants to build a 65-mile, $243 million 500-kilovolt power line between Meadow Brook and Loudoun substations in Frederick and Loudoun counties, respectively, to come on line by summer 2011.

Dominion has two 150-MW units at the Ladysmith plant that opened in 2001.

Power demand in the northern part of the state has grown 40 percent in the last decade and is projected to grow another 8 percent by 2011, Dominion said in a statement.

Not only has the population grown sharply, but the area has had increased power demand by the addition of 22,000 workers at Fort Belvoir army base, a $3.4 billion expansion of Washington-Dulles airport, a $4 billion extension of the Metrorail commuter system serving Washington, D.C., along with numerous power-hungry computer data centers, Dominion said.

Six of the 100 fastest-growing counties in the United States are in the region: Loudoun, Spotsylvania, Culpeper, Stafford, King George and Prince William.

The area's power grid is managed by PJM Interconnection, which covers much of the East Coast and Mid-Atlantic states.

While much of the increased demand is not from houses, PJM said the spike in demand on the Dominion system was like adding 1 million houses over the next five years.

A megawatt of power serves about 700 average homes, which means an expanded Ladysmith could serve 210,000 more homes.