A biomass plant in Halifax County, Virginia, has successfully generated renewable electricity in its first test. The NOVEC Energy Production, Halifax County Biomass plant (NEPHCB) has been developed by NOVI Energy but is owned by the Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC). It was finally connected to the PJM regional electric transmission grid on September 11th at 11.11 am during testing. However, the companies expect that pre-commercial operation testing and inspection of plant systems will continue for several more weeks yet.
The NEPHCB generation station will generate up to 49.9MW of renewable electricity and is located on a 104-acre site in the Halifax County Industrial Park in Southern Virginia. NOVI Energy is overseeing construction of the $170+ million plant which will use waste wood from logging operations in Southside Virginia as fuel. This will be converted into wood chips and then introduced into the boiler to create steam which in turn will drive turbines to create electricity.
“We’ve been working on this project for three years” said Mike Dailey, NOVEC vice president of Energy and Business Development. “This successful synchronization with the power grid marks a major milestone in the development of the station and now sets the stage for commercial operation.”
According to president of NOVI Energy Anand Gangadharan the plant will use “reclaimed water” from the local water authority for plant cooling water. As a result, it will not discharge any water into the Dan River during normal operation. It will also recycle leftover wood ash.
“This state-of-the-art facility will be a reliable power production asset for Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative” added Gangadharan.
The plant has created 500 jobs during construction and 26 full-time employees are operating the plant during testing and will continue to run it once it goes into full operation. An opening ceremony for the plant is expected to be held in November.
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