Energy in Virginia
Virginia, with its extensive coal resources and four commercial nuclear reactors (two each at North Anna and at Surrey), is still a net importer of energy. Virginia imports about half of the energy it uses, but that's not the same as importing half of its electricity needs. Most of the imported energy is petroleum used for transportation, plus natural gas used for heating and manufacturing.
Virginia exports coal through the CSX terminal at Newport News and the Norfolk Southern terminal at Lamberts Point in Norfolk. Virginia also imports some coal for its power plants, including nearby West Virginia coal and also low-sulfur coal from further away that reduces air quality problems.
Statistics about energy are hard to comprehend and may not appear to be consistent if you confuse "energy" with "electricity," but you can still use the numbers to see the patterns and get the "big picture." According to the Energy Information Administration:1
- about 1/3 of Virginia's electricity is generated by the commercial nuclear power plants in the state, and about 1/2 of the electricity by coal-fired power plants
- the average cost of electricity to residential customers in Virginia (9.61 cents/kWh) is almost 20% lower than the national average (11.80 cents/kWh)
- Virginia's coal mines on the Appalachian Plateau produce only 5% of the cost mined east of the Mississippi River
- two of the coalbed methane fields in Virginia are in the top 100 fields producing natural gas in the US
- Virginia had 5,179 wells producing natural gas but only 2 wells producing crude oil in 2007
- Virginia has one petroleum refinery, at Yorktown
- Virginia had 4,560 gas stations in 2007
- Virginia had 14,000 alternative-fueled vehicles (such as hybrid cars) in 2007
- the state gas tax of 17.5 cents/gallon is less than the national average of 21.59 cents/gallon
According to the Virginia Energy Overview,2 from the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research:
- 40% of the energy used within Virginia is for transportation, primarily in the form of petroleum (gasoline in cars, diesel in trucks)
- about 20% of total energy consumption in Virginia is in the form of electricity
- utilities in Virginia import electricity, as well as generate it within the state
- electricity can be transported via power lines, but some of the energy is lost in the process due to electrical resistance so the amount of electricity consumed is always less than the total amount of electricity that is generated/imported
- Virginia’s only major energy export is coal
Oil production in the state is very limited - there are just two tiny oil fields (Ben Hur and Rose Hill) in Lee County, plus liquids from natural gas production in the Roaring Fork field in Wise County. Oil production is too small to justify a wide network of wells with pipelines connecting them. Instead, oil is pumped from underground, stored in metal tanks at each well, and collected by trucks that drive to each well.
Virginia also produces some natural gas, including methane (CH4) from coal seams that are too thin/too deep to mine for the coal. "Virginia's natural gas production has increased dramatically in recent years, from less than 20 million cubic feet in 1970 to more than 85 million cubic feet in 2004. Most of this increase has occurred due to expansion of coalbed methane production in Buchanan and Dickenson counties."3 Though coalbed methane production will increase in the Appalachian Plateau, Virginia will always be a net importer of oil and gas - as long as cars and trucks use an internal combustion engine powered by gasoline/diesel.
Virginia is also a net importer of electricity, even though that fuel is rarely used in the transportation sector. Electricity is produced in only a handful of locations in Virginia, but a complex distribution system of power lines built in the last 80 years carries it to virtually every house in the state. Virginia is building new power plants to handle the increasing demand, both from increased use per capita (your computer requires it...) and because Virginia's population is steadily increasing.
In Virginia, the State Corporation Commission has regulated electrical utilities since 1914.4 With deregulation of utilities, customers are getting to choose their energy supplier and starting to ask basic questions about the industry. A cursory review will show that both physics and government regulations shaped where power plants and power lines were built in Virginia. If you look at Virginia as an economic geographer, you will discover patterns of human activity and resource allocation that can be mapped or related to locations. The geography of electricity - the primary form of energy used in the state, other than for automobiles - stimulates such questions as:
- Where is most of Virginia's electricity generated?
- Whey did power generation locations change over time?
- How is the power distributed from the source to the destination, now?
- How will electricity deregulation affect Virginia producers, distributers, and consumers of
power?
Some industrial plants and large organizations co-generate steam and electricity at their facilities. Virginia Tech has used its coal-fired power plant to supply power for both the campus and local customers since 1890. A few waste-to-energy incinerators burn garbage and create electricity at the same time, such as the facility in southern Fairfax County at Lorton. There are even a few back-to-the-earthers living in Floyd County and other rural locations in Virginia - and owners of some very expensive homes in Loudoun County - who generate their own electricity through solar power or small Pelton wheels in the creeks. However, most Virginians rely upon the grid of power lines to deliver electricity generated somewhere else to their house or business.
Links
References
1. "State Energy Profiles - Virginia," Energy Information Administration, tonto.eia.doe.gov/state/state_energy_profiles.cfm?sid=VA (last checked in Google cache on November 1, 2008)
2. "Virginia Energy Overview," Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research, www.energy.vt.edu/vept/energyover/ (last checked November 1, 2008)
3. "Virginia Natural Gas," Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research, www.energy.vt.edu/vept/naturalgas/ (last checked November 1, 2008)
e. Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, "Virginia Energy Choice," Chapter 13 in Virginia Energy Savers Handbook,
www.dmme.virginia.gov/DE/ConsumerInfo/HandbookVAEnergyChoice.pdf (last checked November 1, 2008)
Economics of Virginia
Geography of Virginia
