Dominion Energy is set to build a $2-billion pumped hydroelectric storage unit in southwest Virginia to accommodate 240 MW of solar generation it plans to add every year through 2032, the company confirmed.
The utility has filed a preliminary permit with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a traditional unit in Tazewell County, Va., and it has tapped Virginia Tech to study the feasibility of using an abandoned mine cavity as the lower reservoir of a pumped storage unit at a separate site, says Mark Mitchell, vice president of generation and construction. “With our system changing to more renewable generation, storage is needed for short-term variations in generation,” he says. The unit could range from 300 MW over 10 hours up to 1,000 MW. Dominion will decide which to build by mid-2018. It would be on line in 2027.