the coal-fired power plant at Clover relies upon the Staunton River for cooling water
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
the coal-fired power plant at Clover relies upon the Staunton River for cooling water
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
ODEC is a not-for-profit generation and transmission cooperative. It operates as a wholesailer, providing electricity to 11 electric co-ops that retail electricity directly to customers.
Of the 11 members, nine are located in Virginia. Choptank Electric Cooperative serves customers in Maryland, and Delaware Electric Cooperative serves customers in Delaware.
The 11 members of Old Dominion Electric Cooperative are:1
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative combines the purchasing power of multiple members to bargain more effectively with utilities and merchant generators. Starting in 1983, it borrowed money from the US Department of Agriculture, Rural Electrification Administration to purchase an 11.6% share of the North Anna Nuclear Power Station. That share was purchased from what is now Dominion Energy.
At the time, there were 14 members in the cooperative. Two dropped out, and the remaining 12 committed to a wholesale power purchase contract lasting until 2028.
In 1992, the cooperative joined with what is now Dominion Energy to build a coal-fired power plant at Clover on the Staunton River, next to Staunton River Battlefield State Park. Money borrowed for the cooperative's 50% share of that project also allowed the cooperative to repay its Rural Electrification Administration debt. That ended oversight by the Rural Electrification Administration, and now the cooperative deals with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at the Federal level.
Like the nuclear-fueled North Anna power plant, the coal-fired Clover plant provides baseload energy. The cooperative partnered with another company and owns 50% of a natural gas peaking facility built in 2003 at Rock Springs in Cecil County, Maryland. In 2018, it completed a combined-cycle, natural gas power plant at Wildcat Point in Cecil County, and owns 100% of that 1000MW plant. In 2003, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative built a 504-megawatt natural gas peaking facility near Gordonsville in Louisa County, and a year later opened an equivalent natural gas peaking facility at Marsh Run in Fauquier County.
For additional reliability, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative also maintains twenty small diesel generators located at six sites in Accomack, Amelia, Highland and Southampton counties. The generators at each site can produce 5-6MW when needed to energize lines and support reliable transmission of electricity.
The 11 member cooperatives have arranged to acquire energy from renewable resources, but Old Dominion Electric Cooperative has purchased some solar and wind energy. It buys electricity from solar facilities in Clarke County and in Northampton County, plus wind-generated electricity from Pennsylvania and Maryland. Today:2
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative generates 45% of the electricity that it sells ("CT"="combustion turbine")
Source: Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, 2016 Year in Review (p.11)
The cooperative generates electricity, purchaees electricity, and transmits electricity across state lines. To facilitate the process, in 1998 Old Dominion Electric Cooperative joined PJM Interconnection, the Regional Transmission Operator that schedules generation and delivery of electricity in the Mid-Atlantic power grid.
The cooperative also owns 110 miles of 69kV (kilovolt) lines in Accomack and Northampton counties, and co-owns a small stretch (1,000') of a 500kV line in Maryland. As owner of those transmission lines, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative is obliged to meet North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Reliability Standards.3
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative generates 45% of the electricity that it sells
Source: Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, 2016 Year in Review (pp.14-15)
The Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC) split from the Old Dominion Electric Cooperative in 2008. NOVEC had tried to modify its 1983 wholesale power purchase contract, even appealing to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. NOVEC proposed to continue purchasing the same amount of electricity from Old Dominion Electric Cooperative but, as demand increased in fast-growing Northern Virginia, to purchase all additional supply from alternative sources that offered better prices.
The 1983 contract committed NOVEC to buy electricity from the Old Dominion Electric Cooperative until 2028. In 2007, NOVEC declined to sign a new contract committing to wholesale power purchases for 45 more years, and the two co-ops negotiated a divorce. The remaining 11 members of the Old Dominion Electric Cooperative committed to purchase power from Old Dominion Electric Cooperative until 2053.4
NOVEC split from Old Dominion Electric Cooperative in 2008, in order to purchase electricity at lower cost
Source: Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC), What's Current (October, 2008)