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DEQ updates board on Dominion's Chesterfield reliability center permit review and Northern Virginia ozone 'clean data' status
Summary
DEQ told the State Air Pollution Control Board that it is reviewing complex air-modeling for Dominion's proposed Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center—four 250 MW simple-cycle turbines with proposed controls—and that EPA finalized a clean data determination April 4 for the Northern Virginia ozone area; DEQ said there is no timeline yet for a draft permit to go to public comment.
Mike Dowd, director of the air renewable energy division for the Department of Environmental Quality, used his statutory briefing at the April 17 State Air Pollution Control Board meeting to update members on two items: the Department's ongoing review of Dominion's proposed Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center (CERC) permit application and a recent EPA action on ozone monitoring in Northern Virginia.
"The project will consist of 4 simple cycle combustion turbines of 250 megawatts each," Dowd said, describing Dominion's proposal to locate CERC at the existing Chesterfield power station and to rely primarily on natural gas (with number 2 fuel oil as a backup and the capacity to use a 10% hydrogen blend). He said Dominion proposed selective catalytic reduction, dry low-NOx burners and an oxidation catalyst to control NOx, PM2.5, VOCs and CO, and listed proposed controlled emission rates (NOx 2.5 ppm, CO 2 ppm, VOC 1 ppm).
Dowd said DEQ staff are still reviewing Dominion's air modeling and that "air modeling for a project like CERC is extremely complex, so it's taking us time to work through it with Dominion." He told the board there is currently no timeline for when DEQ will release a draft permit for public comment.
On a separate but related item, Dowd reported that on April 4 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized a clean data determination for the Northern Virginia ozone nonattainment area, meaning recent ozone monitoring meets the national ambient air quality standard and that the determination is an important step on the path to redesignation to attainment.
During questions, Chairman Guy asked whether the new gas units replace coal units at Chesterfield; Dowd said the coal units had not burned for several years and that the project will add capacity but that emissions are lower compared with the site's historical coal operation. The transcript records DEQ's updates and the department's ongoing modeling review but does not show a draft permit or public-comment schedule being set at this meeting.
DEQ said it will continue its modeling review with Dominion and report back to the board when there is a timeline for public comment.
