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Old Dominion Electric Cooperative had a reliability puzzle to complete: Cover nearly 600 megawatts of load in a remote segment of the PJM Interconnection where power plant retirements have run rampant, do it while demand is reaching new heights, and save members money.
The sole generation and transmission cooperative serving 11 distribution members in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware has found the missing piece in a long-term power purchase agreement for 100% capacity of a soon-to-be-built natural gas plant near a Marcellus Shale pipeline.
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“The project meets the unmatched load and provides many benefits," says Andrew Vehorn, senior vice president of member engagement at ODEC. “It's right on a great gas pipeline, there's available gas that we can get and guarantee long-term, it's near existing transmission infrastructure, and it's through the PJM queue."
“It really is a unicorn compared to other projects."
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The 600-megawatt Wolf Summit Generating Station in Harrison Couty, West Virginia, will be within the Allegheny Power Systems Zone of the PJM Interconnection, where ODEC serves 590 MW of member load in the territories of BARC Electric Cooperative, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative and Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative.
Although it has sufficient supply elsewhere, Glen Allen, Virginia-based ODEC would still have had to pay PJM to import power and be subject to potential transmission congestion costs, because it lacks generation in that specific zone. The location of Wolf Summit alleviates that by generating power near where it will be used.
“That's why this [PPA] is so important," says Vehorn. “PJM zones are like puzzle pieces. If you have load in a zone without generation to match it, you have to buy the energy. The closer you can get it to its actual usage, the cheaper it stays."
As of now, the agreement is set to begin delivering power as soon as late 2028.
“The real benefit of this plant is it'll give us price stability in that area; we'll be able to match our load demand with generation, in the same transmission zone" Vehorn says. “Transmission is a significant input into power costs. Being able to mitigate that cost with generation capacity in the same transmission zone is a tremendous benefit."
Prior to inking the Wolf Summit agreement, ODEC determined its true generation needs in the zone.
“It's why you don't see us looking at a 2,000-MW gas plant," says Vehorn. “We just don't need that much capacity today."
He says knowing their precise needs, where their wholesale market is in terms of volatility and supply and having their members' support allowed ODEC “to be able to strike and make a good long-term decision on their behalf."
“As co-ops, we're in this to help our members at the end of the line save money. It's nice that this gives us the opportunity to do that."
