Virginia to receive federal funds for energy projects

Virginia has excellent potential for producing clean power from wind and nuclear sources, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Thursday as he announced the state would receive $16.1 million in block grants of federal stimulus funds.

The funding total places Virginia third among the 11 states so far to receive stimulus funds under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program.

Virginia already has received $94 million to weatherize homes and $70 million for other energy-related programs through the stimulus package.

Chu sounded optimistic about Virginia’s energy stance during a conference call to announce the block grants.

“Virginia is a perfect example of having real economic opportunities in clean energy,” Chu said. “The University of Virginia and Virginia Tech are at the forefront of clean-energy engineering,” he said.

In addition, “Virginia is a national leader in nuclear power,” and one-third of the state’s electrical energy comes from nuclear power, he said.

“We are eager to restart the nuclear program in the United States and we look forward to Virginia being part of that,” Chu said.

“We are in the final negotiations” for the federal government’s $18.5 billion in loan guarantees for the first utility companies that build new reactors, Chu said, “and I would personally like to see that loan guarantee program extended or renewed with additional money.”

The funds would help pay for new reactors such as one that Dominion Power hopes to build at North Anna. Areva in Lynchburg also is designing a reactor for a Maryland utility company, based on plants now under construction in Finland and France.

Chu said he hoped the new reactors would produce a spent fuel that is less hazardous than the current generation of reactors, where some of the waste has converted to plutonium that could be developed into weapons.

“We are convinced that the nuclear waste issue is solvable,” Chu said.

“There are a number of options I see in the technology coming forward. We are going to look at recycling” of spent fuel, “but there are even newer options, and new reactor designs where you don’t have to actively recycle in a conventional way.”

DOE is committed to developing nuclear-fuel processes that don’t create “a pure strain of plutonium which, if it were to get in the wrong hands,” could be turned into weapons, Chu said.

He also said Virginia is a leader in its potential to produce power from offshore wind farms. If turbines were built off Virginia’s coast, 10,000 to 20,000 jobs could be created and they would stay in Virginia, Chu said.

The $16.1 million in block-grant funds Chu announced will be disbursed by Virginia state officials to local governments that submit the best plans for energy-conservation programs.

Four Northern Virginia counties and cities already qualified for funding in Chu’s announcement. Loudoun County was approved for a $2.2 million program that includes developing walkable communities, reducing traffic and retrofitting schools and other government buildings with efficient heating and cooling.