Category: Infrastructure
-
Richmond Boldly Plotting a Post-19th Century Mass Transit System
by James A. Bacon The City of Richmond has procured funding for a study to see if GRTC Transit System bus routes can be organized more efficiently, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The study will bring in the Jarrett Walker + Associates consulting firm that showed how rearranging the route structure could triple the frequency of bus service in Houston without requiring additional funding. “The…
-
Dominion Overestimates Electricity Demand on Peninsula, Say Transmission Line Foes
A quick hit here for lack of time… A new study by Princeton Energy Resources International contends that Dominion Virginia Power has overestimated future energy demand on the Virginia Peninsula in its justification of the Surry-Skiffes Creek transmission line project. Annual demand projections of 1.9% yearly were almost twice as high as actual growth from…
-
ODEC Goes Solar
by James A. Bacon The Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) has joined Virginia’s solar club, awarding 25-year contracts to deliver 30 megawatts of electric output from solar power plants in Northampton County and Clarke County. Hecate Energy, a developer of renewable energy projects based in Nashville, Tenn., will build and operate the facilities. “Adding clean solar…
-
I Want Me Some of that 1 Gigabit, Too
Cox Communications will spend $81 million to upgrade residential broadband service in Fairfax County to “gigabit” Internet service, providing speeds up to 20 times faster than most existing services. It will be the first Internet service of that speed available in the Washington, D.C. area, and one of only a few anywhere in the United States.…
-
Verizon Decision Leaves Powhatan with Tough Internet Choices
By John Szczesny “How they heck can we get broadband internet?” That’s the question being asked in rural Powhatan County, where officials earlier this month held a meeting with frustrated residents living without a vital connection to the world around them. Cable never came to these folks; their neighborhoods weren’t densely settled enough to suit…
-
Do Nukes Have a Long-Term Future in Virginia?
by James A. Bacon With little fanfare two weeks ago, Dominion Virginia Power announced its intention to extend the life of its two nuclear units at the Surry Power Station for another 20 years. Commencing service in 1972 and 1973 respectively, the units are licensed to continue operating through 2032 and 2033. “Over the next several years,…
-
Battle Lines Forming Over Clean Power Plan
The partisan battle lines are forming over the implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, which calls for Virginia to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from state power plants 32% by 2030. Attorney General Mark R. Herring, a Democrat, announced two weeks ago that Virginia will join a coalition of 17 other states supporting the Obama…
-
Striking a Balance on Municipal Broadband
by John Szczesny Changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes… towards municipal broadband, that is. As officials in the Roanoke Valley move forward with plans for a municipal fiber network the state of North Carolina is busy suing the FCC to prevent its local governments from doing the same. To be fair, municipal broadband is no…
-
Too Little Density, Too Much Road Surface
by James A. Bacon It goes without saying that New Jersey is dissimilar from Virginia in many ways, so it’s hazardous extrapolating conclusions from one state to the other. But a new study about New Jersey roads co-authored by Smart Growth America and New Jersey Future implies that the Old Dominion could have saved hundreds of millions…
-
How Much Is It Worth to Preserve Dominion’s Nuclear Option?
by James A. Bacon Perhaps the biggest question facing Virginia as it implements the Clean Power Plan, which mandates a 37% reduction in CO2 emissions from Virginia power plants by 2030, is what fuel mix to rely upon. Compelled to cut coal use sharply, Virginia’s power companies effectively have a choice of natural gas, nuclear and…
-
Wind Power in Virginia… 2017 or Bust
by James A. Bacon Investors have been trying without success for nearly a decade to build wind turbines along the ridge lines of Virginia’s mountains. Projects have bogged down amid concerns about noise generated by thrumming blades, the slaughter of birds and bats, and the imposition of 500-foot-high machines upon neighbors’ pristine views. While wind turbines have sprouted around the country…
-
Woolly Headed Thinking about Transportation
by James A. Bacon Virginia Beach’s ongoing debate over light rail is emblematic of everything that is wrong with Virginia’s system for determining which transportation projects get built. While the Virginia Department of Transportation is implementing a mechanism for ranking road and highway projects, there is no mechanism for ascertaining the proper balance between roads/highways and…
-
Environmentalist Update on Offshore Wind
by James A. Bacon Judging from comments made in a Environment Virginia-sponsored webinar held this morning, environmentalists, the McAuliffe administration and Dominion Virginia Power are operating on the same wave length when it comes to developing offshore wind power in Virginia. If environmental groups have big differences with Dominion on how to proceed, no sign of…
-
How about Habitat Exchanges for the Cow Knob Salamander?
by James A. Bacon I’ve been cogitating a lot recently over the difficulty of building major infrastructure projects in Virginia that are vital to the economy yet intrude upon landowner rights and the environment. One problem, which I dubbed the “rule of firsties,” is the spreading conviction that existing landowners (the ones who got there…
-
A Sign of the Coming Grid Wars
It happened in Nevada first, but it could come to Virginia eventually — the effort by major electricity consumers to bypass their local utilities and purchase power from wholesale electric markets. Three big casino companies — Wynn Resorts, MGM Resorts International and Las Vegas Sands — say they could slash millions of dollars from their electric bills…