Talking Points

The Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center (VCHEC) has never been a good deal for ratepayers. Even when it opened in 2012, coal was no longer competitive against natural gas. When it was approved, VCHEC’s projected levelized cost of energy was more than twice the cost of solar energy today, and about on par with the anticipated cost of energy from Virginia’s first offshore wind farm currently under development. An energy think tank that examined VCHEC’s poor performance recommended officials acknowledge the plant’s imminent retirement, demand transparency and local reinvestment from Dominion, and devise a plan to address job losses and to remediate the site.

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