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#Good morning
Strong operational and safety performance continued at Dominion in 2017. All of our business units either met or exceeded their safety goals in the first quarter
I'm pleased that our employees set an all-time OSHA Recordable Rate of 0.66 last year, and we have a goal of improving on that record this year
Our nuclear fleet continues to operate very well
The net capacity factor of our six units during the first quarter was over 100%
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 March 31, the $1.3 billion project was 30% 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
With the major equipment on-site, the risk to the schedule is greatly reduced
Greensville is expected to achieve commercial operations late next year
We have a number of solar projects under development, and continue to see demand for renewables from our customers including data centers, military installations, and the state government
In total, we have announced 408 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 about 1,800 megawatts, about 700 of which will be in Virginia and North Carolina
We have 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 pumped storage electric generating facilities in Southwest Virginia is in the public interest with cost also recoverable through a rider
We are evaluating a number of options and expect to have sites selected later this year
We have a number of electric transmission projects in various stages of regulatory approval and construction
$784 million worth of these assets were completed in 2016 including our new system operation center
We plan to invest $800 million in our electric transmission business this year
Our strategic underground program continues at Dominion Virginia Power
Earlier this year, the Virginia General Assembly confirmed its support for the program and clarified the standards by which distribution lines 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're seeing improving prospects for electric sales growth in Virginia
New customer connections at Virginia Power in the first quarter were 17% higher than last year
We also connected three new data centers in the first quarter, two more than in the first quarter of last year, and anticipating connecting eight to nine new data centers each year through the end of the decade
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 Dominion Energy continues as well
Our Cove Point liquefaction project is now 89% complete
Engineering and procurement is essentially finished
Structural steel and large diameter piping installation are coming to completion and the post-installation pipe testing is about 60% complete
Over half of the project systems are now in the commissioning phase, on line with schedule
As we work toward commercial in-service later this year, we will be commissioning the power block this quarter and begin to ramp down the construction-related labor
Last month, FERC approved our request to begin flowing gas to the site in order to begin firing the two auxiliary boilers as a (14:57) step in the power block commissioning
The boiler first test was successfully completed last week
Third quarter will bring the project to a state of ready for start-up, and construction will reach essentially complete status
We have filed a request with the Department of Energy to export LNG produced during commissioning
Finally, the fourth quarter will provide a period of sustained production of LNG prior to achieving commercial in-service late this year
We're continuing to work toward the commencement of construction on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the related Supply Header project
FERC issued its draft environmental impact statement in December
The report was favorable and concluded that all environmental impacts will be effectively mitigated and that there would be no significant public safety impacts
The public comment period ended in early April
And this week, we filed responses to FERC information requests and all of the comments received during the public comment period
After receiving the final EIS this summer, we expect to receive the final permit from FERC by late summer or early fall
We're 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 80% of materials procurement
We remain on track to start construction in the second half of this year and expect completion of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Supply Header in the second half of 2019. We have an additional six pipeline growth projects underway with $700 million of investment
Five of these projects are expected to be completed this year
We're seeing continued interest in pipeline expansion projects driven by new power, industrial, and LDC load throughout our system
We believe a federal policy that supports infrastructure investments will increase drilling activity and gas demand from industrials and other sectors
Importantly, it will also expedite approvals of gas infrastructure which will, in turn, accelerate investments in needed pipeline expansions
Based on these factors, we 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 has delivered strong operating and safety performance in the first quarter
Construction of the Greensville County project is on time and on budget
Construction of the Cove Point liquefaction project is also on time and on budget
We continue to work toward FERC approval for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the Supply Header project
And as we complete our major projects, we will deliver strong earnings and dividend 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 the years to come
Because of our unique MLP structure, our superior cash flows will also allow a dividend growth rate at Dominion higher than 8% per year for the foreseeable future
Finally, this will be the last earnings call for Dominion Resources
Following a shareholder approval at next week's annual meeting, the company's name will change to Dominion Energy in recognition of our focus on the evolving energy marketplace and to unify our brand after last year's merger with Questar Corporation
The new logo is shown on slide 17. Our electric and gas distribution companies will unify under the single brand and change their doing business names in Idaho, North Carolina, Ohio, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming
The names of our operating segments will change as well, to the Power Delivery group, the Power Generation group, and the Gas Infrastructure group
We will begin using these names in our reporting of operating results next quarter
The name of our master limited partnership will change to Dominion Energy Midstream Partners
The ticker symbols for both companies remain the same
Our company and our employees are proud of the work we've done in delivering energy for 119 years, and of the reputation we have built through reliable and affordable service
With that, we will be happy to take your questions
Question-and-Answer Session
Good morning, <UNK>
<UNK>, we're nearing the end of the Connecticut Legislative Session, as you know
They're scheduled to adjourn at the end, I guess, of the first week of June, June 7. Occasionally, that carries on a little bit as they finish up their budget negotiations
We've been in touch with folks in Connecticut
We're keeping keep close contact with it
We've said all that we're going to say about Millstone at this time
But there's no question that continued support of Millstone is very important for us to be able to make continued improvements to that facility, look at potential relicensing in the future years, as we are in Virginia
So it's an important outcome for us, and we're paying very close attention to it
I think the answer is a complicated answer to a very straightforward question, I think, because partly, it depends on what assets you're talking about
The assets that we're developing through our regulating customers here in Virginia and North Carolina, we have full intention to continue to own those
In fact, the way some of them are structured that are now under contract, we will own in the future once (22:41) certain period of time
And as far as harvesting part of the portfolio that's a little bit older, I'll let <UNK> answer that part of the question
Well you have the existing riders that have been around since 2007. For example, the GENCO riders like Greensville County
There was a clarification of the law to make sure that very significant investments that may be necessary to extend the lives of our North <UNK> and Surry Power Stations to 80 years will be recoverable through riders
We have our undergrounding distribution or undergrounding rider that covers 4,000 miles
Now we have 56,000 miles of distribution lines in Virginia but about 4,000 have a higher likelihood of extended outages when we get significant storms because of the topography or the trees that are in the neighborhoods or whatever
So we've been working on those
The new one
I'm not sure, folks, on the fact that we actually own 60% of and operate 100% of the world's largest pumped storage facility in Virginia at our Bath County Power Station
It's the closest thing to a real battery that can work with renewables of any scale
We've been looking in the South Western part of our state that could use continued economic development, and those will be subject to riders as well
So and then if you're continuing to operate a coal facility and you need expenses around environmental spending to keep that plant operated, for example, coal ash ponds, remediation, et cetera is also recoverable through a rider
So there's lots of opportunities and, as we've said, the Virginia economy is beginning to perk up a little bit
New connects were 17% higher in the first quarter and the sales growth is strong
<UNK> can give you the details on that
The budget that has been agreed to through September includes significantly more dollars for defense spending which many have been asking for in Congress for years now
The case, of course, does not involve Dominion; it involves APCo
Its impacts would likely impact Dominion
We're not going to comment on that since the Supreme Court has it and they'll issue their opinion in the summertime
<UNK> <UNK> runs our newly called Gas Infrastructure group
She can comment more fully on that
It'll be over $1 billion
It's part of our overall growth plan that we've been talking about since 2015. As we've said, whenever we've given out these growth plans over the years the later part of the period is – We know where all the gas projects are in the first two, three years, and as we go through the period we start filling up the bucket later in the years
That's what <UNK> was just speaking about
<UNK> <UNK> - Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC Got you
And is there any commentary that you can provide on Blue Racer and the status of natural gas liquid processing in the Southern Utica and how that business is progressing?
Good morning, Greg
Okay
We'll write them down as you go
Good morning, Steve
Well, as we've mentioned in the past, we're shifting our focus away from these contracted assets, the assets we've been buying out, particularly in the West
I think we got a couple more to do this year
<UNK> will comment on those
But we're focusing in North Carolina and Virginia, our regulated customer base, and we filed a new integrated resource plan document, and for the first time, solar passed the economic test in any significant amounts and that IRP says you could logically build up to 5,200 megawatts of solar over the next 15 years
Now, as you know, as you build more renewables like that, that comes hand-in-hand with pipelines and gas-fired peakers to support the renewables when they are unable to operate
So, we'll have to see how that all goes over the next few years, but that is becoming a real increasing possibility
Thank you
Thank you, Angie
