Plans Progress for Virginia Plant Worth Up to $900 Million

Power development Competitive Power Ventures, Silver Spring, Md., will move forward to build a 762-MW natural-gas-fired plant in southwestern Virginia after state regulators scaled back Appalachian Power Co.'s plans to buy capacity from out of state.

The Smyth County project, set to cost between $850 million and $900 million, is set to be on line by mid-2015, officials say.

Appalachian Power, an American Electric Power subsidiary, operates in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee. CPV also has proposed similarly sized plants in Maryland and New Jersey.

Mary B. Powers has reported on engineering and construction issues in the global energy and environmental sectors for more than 30 years from Washington, D.C. and Birmingham, Ala. She formerly wrote for the Platt's group of energy sector publications under McGraw Hill and S&P Global that included Inside Energy and Megawatt Daily, and was state editor for the Lexington, Ky., Herald Leader. Mary has a master’s degree in journalism from The American University.

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