Dominion Building Solar Farm on Land Leased From Philip Morris

(Bloomberg) — Dominion Resources Inc., the third-largest
U.S. utility owner, is building the biggest solar farm in
Virginia on land leased from Philip Morris International Inc.

The 2.45-megawatt, 8,000-panel project in Chester,
Virginia, is part of a program in which Dominion leases land or
rooftops for solar installations, the company said Wednesday in
a statement. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

“This initiative is another step toward fulfilling
Dominion’s commitment to substantially increase our solar
generation portfolio in the commonwealth,” Ken Barker,
Dominion’s vice president of technical solutions, said in the
statement.

The project will generate enough electricity to power about
500 homes. Richmond, Virginia-based Dominion said last month it
plans to build 400 megawatts of solar capacity in the state. The
company has 744 megawatts in operation, development or under
construction.

Companies including Southern Co. and Duke Energy Corp. last
year asked developers to propose 900 megawatts of solar capacity
in the U.S. Southeast, one of the nation’s fastest-growing
photovoltaic markets, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Duke and NextEra Energy Inc. are the largest U.S. utility
owners by market value.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Justin Doom in New York at
jdoom1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Jim Efstathiou Jr., Will Wade

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