Gas Buildout Continues Across Southeast

A massive buildout of methane gas infrastructure in Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee continues to work through multiple planning, permitting and construction processes with more than a dozen new methane gas plants and hundreds of miles of new pipelines in various stages of development.

Electricity demand is widely expected to grow over the next few years largely due to increased demand from new data centers and manufacturing, but a July report from London Economics International commissioned by Southern Environmental Law Center argues that projections based on data center growth are highly uncertain in part because they ignore realities like the global availability of semiconductor chips.

North Carolina 

In North Carolina, Duke Energy’s latest Carbon Plan — a required document outlining how the utility will meet the state legislature’s 2050 carbon-neutrality goal — pushed back interim deadlines to reduce emissions by 70% by 2030. Instead of moving away from fossil fuels, Duke is proposing 9 gigawatts of new methane gas generation by 2035.

In addition, Williams Companies is working through the regulatory process as it seeks to expand its Transco pipeline system, proposing a 54-mile pipeline, which would also run through Southern Virginia, and associated gas compressor stations.

Mountain Valley Pipeline is also moving forward with its proposed Southgate extension, which would run very close to the Transco expansion, also crossing the Virginia/North Carolina border.

Virginia

In addition to MVP Southgate and the Transco expansion, several other gas expansions are planned in Virginia, as the state’s largest power company, Dominion Energy, received permission from the state to lean into fossil fuels despite a Virginia law that mandates a transition to clean energy by mid-century.

Dominion argued that new gas plants are needed to meet a projected increase in demand driven largely by power-hungry data centers. But experts testifying before the State Corporation Commission on behalf of Appalachian Voices, the organization that publishes this newspaper, pointed out that Dominion may be grossly overestimating data center growth. Testimony showed that even if electricity demand increases significantly, Dominion can still reliably serve its customers by investing in battery storage and other clean resources — meeting state requirements without any new gas.

Community opposition continues to grow against many of Dominion’s proposed projects, including the 944-megawatt methane gas plant the utility wants to build at the site of the Chesterfield Power Station.

Tennessee

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s board of directors is currently in a state of flux. At the beginning of President Donald Trump’s term, the board already had three vacant seats on its nine-seat board. Trump fired three members, leaving only three members — two short of the quorum necessary to make key decisions for the TVA. In July, Trump nominated four new directors — none of whom have strong backgrounds in energy — who will need Senate confirmation.

The TVA’s long-term plan for meeting energy needs over the next 25 years has been on hold since the board lost its quorum in April.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is proposing to expand electricity generation from methane gas at an aggressive rate, which is detailed in this Energy Report story.