Amazon and Dominion to develop 180 MW of solar projects

Dominion has announced a major expansion of its solar alliance with Amazon to add 180 MW of solar generating capacity in five Virginia counties.

Construction of the facilities will be enabled through long-term power purchase agreements between Dominion subsidiary, Dominion Energy, Inc., and an affiliate of Amazon's cloud computing business, AWS. The solar facilities are expected to enter service in late 2017.

The developments announced today are expected to expand Dominion's operating eight-state solar fleet to 1,400 megawatts by 2017, including 434 megawatts in North Carolina and Virginia. The company, one of the largest owners and operators of solar power in the U.S., intends to bring online at least 500 megawatts of solar generating capacity in the two-state area by 2020.

Thomas F. Farrell II, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Dominion, said:

"This alliance with Amazon Web Services will include the two largest solar farms in the mid-Atlantic. This solar expansion is great for Dominion, Amazon and the Commonwealth of Virginia. It helps AWS meet its renewable needs, it expands Virginia's clean electric generation fleet, and it creates economic development opportunities in largely rural communities."

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, said:

"Solar energy is a central part of the comprehensive renewable energy approach Virginia needs to keep costs low for businesses, families and taxpayers as we build a new Virginia economy. I applaud Dominion and Amazon for collaborating in a way that will benefit our economy, our energy mix and our environment. We will continue to support collaborations and innovative approaches to bring low-cost, renewable energy to all corners of the Commonwealth."

Peter DeSantis, vice president, Infrastructure, AWS, said:

"We continue to ramp our sustainability efforts in areas where availability of renewable energy sources are low or proposed projects are stalled, and where the energy contribution goes onto the same electric grid that powers AWS data centers. By enabling 10 utility scale renewable projects in the U.S. to date, we are well-positioned to meet our latest goal of 50 percent renewable energy powering the AWS global infrastructure by the end of 2017. That said, we are nowhere near done. We will continue to make progress toward 100 percent and have many exciting initiatives planned."