Dominion Energy has acquired an 80-megawatt solar farm in Virginia from project developer Community Energy Inc.
Construction of the Amazon Solar Farm U.S. East is expected to begin later in 2015. The facility would enter service in fall 2016. It is located in Accomack County near Oak Hall.
A long-term power-purchase agreement has been signed with an affiliate of Amazon’s cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services. This is the first project that has been approved under Virginia’s permit-by-rule process for renewable energy projects with nameplate generating capacities of less than 100megawatts. The rule streamlines the permitting process, allowing the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to issue bulk permits to construct and operate qualifying renewable energy projects.
“We look forward to expanding our relationship with Amazon as it seeks to increase the mix of renewable energy on the electric grid powering its data centers,” said Thomas F. Farrell II, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Dominion. “This project also shows Dominion’s commitment to building additional clean, renewable solar facilities in Virginia.”
The project is expected to qualify for the federal Investment Tax Credit.
