Panda Power acquires 750MW combined cycle plant in Virginia

Panda Power Funds has purchased a majority stake in the proposed 750MW natural gas-fueled combined-cycle power plant located in an industrial-zoned area of Loudoun County, Virginia, U.S. The Stonewall generating station, when commissioned, is expected to address the power requirements of 750,000 homes in the Northern Virginia/Washington D.C. metropolitan area.

Besides using pipeline quality natural gas to minimize particulate matter and air emission, the plant will also utilize reclaimed municipal waste water from the Town of Leesburg for cooling, conserving the Commonwealth's natural drinking water supply. Panda Power's partners in the Stonewall project include Bechtel Development and Green Energy Partners/Stonewall.

Claimed to have been designed in anticipation of greenhouse gas regulations, the zero-liquid-discharge plant is expected to meet the US Environmental Protection Agency's recently proposed new carbon emissions standards, and will be built along existing transmission lines, to eliminate requirement for additional power lines needed to import power from outside of Loudoun County.

The project received its air permit from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality in April, while construction will begin upon financing, regulatory approvals and other conditions and will continue for approximately 30 months. The facility is expected to enter commercial operations during the spring of 2017.