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#Good morning
Strong operational and safety performance continued at Dominion Energy
All of our business units either met or exceeded their safety goals through the first half of the year
I'm pleased that our employees set an all-time low OSHA Recordable Rate of 0.66 last year and have a goal of improving on that record this year
Our nuclear fleet continues to operate well
The net capacity factor of our six units through the second quarter was over 96%
Now for an update on our growth plans
Construction of the 1,588-megawatt Greensville County Combined Cycle Power Station continues on time and on budget
As of June 30, the $1.3 billion project was 47% complete
All three gas turbines, the gas turbine generators as well as the steam turbine generator and casings have been placed on their foundations
All three heat recovery steam generators have been set with modules loaded
The air-cooled condenser is over 60% complete
Greensville is expected to achieve commercial operations late next year
We have a number of solar projects under development and we continue to see demand for renewables from our customers including data centers, military installations, and the state government
Three of these facilities, totaling a 119-megawatt achieved commercial operations during the second quarter
In total, we've announced 438-megawatts that will go into service this year and expect to add another 200 megawatts by the end of next year bringing our gross operating portfolio to 1,800 megawatts, about 700 megawatts of which will be in Virginia and North Carolina
We've begun the process to seek operating license extensions for our four nuclear units in Virginia
Earlier this year, the Virginia General Assembly enacted legislation establishing that the spending on these efforts, which could be up to $4 billion reaching into the next decade, will be recoverable through a separate rate rider
The General Assembly also stated the construction of one or more new pump storage electric generating facilities in Southwest Virginia is in the public interest with costs also recoverable through a rider
We are evaluating a number of options and expect to have sites selected later this year
In July, we announced that we'd signed an agreement with DONG Energy of Denmark, a global leader in offshore wind development to build two six-megawatt turbines off the coast of Virginia Beach
The two companies are now refining agreements for engineering, procurement, and construction
Dominion Energy remains the sole owner of the turbines, which is targeted for completion in 2020. We plan to seek wider recovery in Virginia for the project
We have a number of electric transmission projects at various stages of regulatory approval and construction
Through the first half of the year, $327 million of assets have been placed into service
We plan to invest $800 million in our electric transmission business this year and every year thereafter for at least the next decade
Our strategic underground program continues at Power Delivery
Earlier this year, the Virginia General Assembly affirmed its support for the program, and clarified the standards by which the distribution line would be prioritized
We plan to invest up to $175 million per year in this program to reduce the number of outage locations and their duration during major events
We see improving prospects for electric sales growth in Virginia
Weather normalized electric sales were up about 2% for the first half of the year, led by strong increases in sales to data center and residential customers
New customer connections in the first half of the year were 7% higher than last year
We also connected five new data centers in the second quarter, bringing the year-to-date total to 8%
In addition, anticipated increased federal spending on defense will provide strong support for the Virginia economy, which is the largest recipient of defense dollars in the nation
All of these factors support our expectation that annual electric sales growth of at least 1% will continue
Progress on our growth plan for gas infrastructure continues as well
Our Cove Point Liquefaction Project is now 95% complete and remains on-time and on-budget
Engineering and procurement is essentially finished
Structural steel and large diameter piping installation are coming to completion and the post installation pipe testing is essentially complete
Both phases of the operator simulator training have been successfully completed
Synchronization of a steam turbine generator to the existing plant generation grid will be completed this month
Over 90% of the project systems are now in the commissioning phase in line with our schedule
As we work towards commercial in-service later this year, we will bring the project to a state of ready for start-up this quarter, and construction will reach essentially complete status
On July 24, FERC provided authorization for hydrocarbon entry into four additional project areas
We have received authorization from the Department of Energy to export LNG produced during commissioning
We have an agreement with a third party to provide the commissioning natural gas and to export commissioning LNG from a facility
Finally, the fourth quarter will provide a period of sustained production of LNG prior to achieving commercial in-service date later this year
We are continuing to work toward commencement of construction on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the related Supply Header project
On July 21, FERC issued its file environmental impact statement
The report was favorable and concluded that all environmental impacts will be effectively mitigated and there would be no significant public safety impacts
We expect to receive the final certificate from FERC in the early fall
We are in the process of securing all the necessary water crossing and other federal and state permits and expect to complete that process later this year
ACP and Supply Header have essentially completed the design and engineering, executed the construction contract, and completed over 84% of materials procurement
We remain on-track to start construction later this year and expect completion of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Supply Header in the second half of 2019. We have an additional seven pipeline growth projects underway with well over $750 million of investment
Our keys project was completed earlier this year, and we expect four more to be completed by year end
We are also investing nearly $300 million per year in our local gas distribution companies in three states through our infrastructure replacement programs
These costs are recoverable through rate rider programs in all three states
We are seeing continued interest in expansion projects driven by new power, industrial, and LDC loads throughout our system and expect to secure at least three or four new growth projects this year and significantly more through 2020 throughout our entire footprint including our traditional Appalachian Basin, our new Western system and our expanding Eastern footprint, which has direct access to the fast-growing Mid-Atlantic and Southeast U.S
markets
So to summarize, our business delivered strong operating and safety performance in the second quarter
Construction of the Greensville County project is on time and on budget
Construction of the Cove Point liquefaction project is nearly complete, and commissioning is well underway
We received a final environmental impact statement and continue to work toward commencement of construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Supply Header Project
As we complete our major projects, we will deliver strong earnings growth starting next year
As <UNK> stated earlier, we expect earnings growth of at least 10% in 2018, and a diverse set of positive factors will support continued growth in years to come
Because of our unique MLP structure, our superior cash flows will also allow a dividend growth rate at Dominion Energy higher than 8% per year
You can expect more clarity on our long-term growth plan and ongoing dividend policy at this fall's investor conferences
With that, we will be happy to take your questions
Question-and-Answer Session
Good morning
<UNK> <UNK> - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC Hey, I was wondering if you could go through how you're dealing with the environmental opposition to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline within Virginia
What kind of deals have been reached with the opposition at this point?
I'm not sure I understand your question entirely
But there's no deals to be reached with the opposition
We're going through the permitting process as we have for the last two-and-a-half years
We'll get our FERC permit in the fall and it's a matter of going through
There's public hearings that will be held on the water permits in Virginia this month
They had them last month in North Carolina and those permits will be issued later in the fall and we will start construction in November
No deals to be struck with anyone
<UNK> <UNK> - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC Okay
So it doesn't sound like there is anything – any significant opposition that you're dealing with
Is that a fair statement or?
There's certainly some vocal opposition in some isolated localities, but overall, folks in Virginia support the pipeline as they do in West Virginia, North Carolina and we expect to get all the necessary permits later this fall
<UNK> <UNK> - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC Okay
All right
Thank you very much
Thank you
Thank you, and good morning
We'd like to see FERC commissioners impaneled in September, would be our best guess on when that'll happen and that would allow us – no later than September is our best guess on when that'll happen, and that would allow us to start construction on this particular schedule
We won't talk about potential expansion opportunities until after we've received our FERC permit
And then, we will sit down and talk to folks
Good morning
There's been obviously lots in the press about what's going on in Connecticut legislature
We're working very hard on that project in the legislation
As long as they're in session, we will be working on it, and we think there are prospects to have that legislation be adopted during the course of this legislative session
The governor's issued an executive order you referenced calling for a study
We don't feel the need to – for a study to be conducted, but we will certainly participate in the study
I think it's pretty clear what's necessary in Connecticut, and we'll let it play its course
Good morning
Well, this first two turbines are test turbines
They will be built in the area that's been designated that we have the lease rights to
It's about 25 miles, 26 miles offshore of Virginia Beach, so the turbines won't be visible
We've been working on this for a number of years, long, many years trying to find a partner who would give us the kind of certainty we needed on the cost to protect our customers
So that we could go to our commission, because it will need commission approval to authorize the construction of the turbines
They are – will be subject to rider recovery
If the turbines demonstrate that they work well in these waters and produce the kind of capacity that we expect, then it's up to 2,000 megawatts of offshore wind that would be available
We're building a lot of solar as well
Our IRP calls for up to 5,000 megawatts of solar
Solar uses a lot of land, and that's beginning to become obvious to people as maybe not quite as obvious to folks in the West, where vacant land is abundant
It's a little more obvious to folks in the East, where vacant land is not quite as abundant
So we're exploring all of our options to meet our customers' demands for decades to come
That's part of why we're looking at the relicensing of North Anna and Surry as well, and pump storage in the Virginia mountains
Good morning, <UNK>
Thank you
