Old Dominion Electric Cooperative's Cypress Creek Power Station
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC)’s demand response efforts reduced peak demand by an estimated 200 megawatts (MW) in 2007.
Despite these peak demand savings, the ODEC system continues to grow at a rate faster than the national average. ODEC announced in early 2008 that it was investigating the feasibility of constructing a base load generation facility (a process that must begin immediately to meet forecasted demand).
ODEC proposes constructing a one- or two-unit base load electric generation facility that would yield 750 MW to 1,500 MW of power. The earliest anticipated completion date for the proposed facility is 2018.
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In an effort to diversify its fuel source portfolio and reduce risk to its consumer-members, ODEC chose a mixture of coal and biomass (renewable energy in the form of wood waste) as the fuel source for Cypress Creek Power Station.
ODEC evaluated each of the three main fuel sources traditionally used for base load generation facilities – nuclear, natural gas and coal. After deliberate consideration, it was determined that coal, combined with biomass (renewable energy in the form of wood waste) and the use of advanced-technology generation, offers the most balance between cost, reliability and environmental impacts.
Cypress Creek Power Station will be the most efficient unit in Virginia, producing an equivalent output of electricity as other coal units, but yielding 30 percent less CO2 emissions.
About Fuel Sources
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, coal is the most abundant fossil fuel in the U.S. – and the world – with more than 200 years of available coal reserves.
America has more than 250 billion tons of recoverable coal reserves, the equivalent of 800 billion barrels of oil, and more than three times Saudi Arabia’s proven oil reserves (www.americaspower.org).
Of the four main types of renewable energy – wind, solar, geothermal and biomass – biomass is the most suitable supplement for this facility. There is a sufficient amount of biomass located within a cost-effective proximity to each of the proposed facility sites (Surry and Sussex counties).