Bear Garden Power Station

Key Facts: Location: Buckingham County, Va.
Owner: Dominion Virginia Power, Glen Allen, Va.
Contractor/Engineer: Fluor Corp., Irving, Texas
Start Date: April 2009
Completion Date: May 2011

The $619-million Bear Garden Power Station in Buckingham County, Va., about 60 mi west of Richmond, will help Dominion Virginia Power of Glenn Allen, Va., meet the region�s demand for electrical power.

The new 580-megawatt, combined-cycle plant will run primarily on natural gas with ultralow-sulfur diesel fuel as a backup. The project is located on a site across the James River from Dominion�s current Bremo Power Station. The company will run a 1.4-mi-long, 230-kV, single-circuit transmission line to connect the two facilities.

Fluor Corp. of Irving, Texas, received the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the project from Dominion and began construction in April 2009. Dominion purchased the power station development project previously permitted in 2001 by Tenaska Virginia Partners of Omaha.

Water supplies will come from the James River and be stored in a reservoir adjacent to the Bear Garden site. The power station is more than half complete, with the two combustion turbines, the steam turbine and large step-up transformers onsite. Work is progressing on the administration/warehouse building, a water treatment facility, cooling tower, fuel oil storage tanks and water supply pipeline.

Tenaska had constructed the discharge outfall for wastewater before selling the project. The plant is scheduled to go into commercial operation in May 2011.