Dominion Energy’s proposal for a $1.47 billion natural gas plant in Chesterfield County aimed at meeting rising energy demands across the state has been approved by the State Corporation Commission.

The Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center, or CERC, still must be evaluated for an air permit by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. That decision is expected later this month .

The SCC, which regulates Virginia’s utilities, issued a decision Nov. 25 to approve the first of several gas plants Dominion has proposed in the past two years. Those plants—reliant on fossil fuels—are being considered despite provisions in the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) that encouraged the Richmond-based energy company to move toward renewable energy sources and shutter some carbon-emitting plan

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