Dominion Energy called off its solicitation for a 1,500-MW peaking plant Wednesday, just days after LS Power asked Virginia officials to intervene in the process.

The request for proposals, issued last month, was meant to help close a projected 4,044-MW capacity gap identified in the company’s integrated resource plan. But LS Power argued that such generation already existed in Dominion’s footprint and questioned the competitive process described in the RFP. (See Dominion Challenged on RFP for New Peaker Plant.)

Jeremy Slayton, a Dominion spokesperson, did not give a reason for the reversal in an email sent to RTO Insider Wednesday afternoon.

“The company will continue to monitor market conditions to determine if an RFP for peaking generation will be reissued in the future,” he said.

Nathan Hanson, senior vice president at LS Power, had urged William F. Stephens, the State Corporation Commission’s director of public utility regulation, and state Attorney General Mark Herring “to suspend the solicitation as it is currently structured, review the requirements and implement changes that will make the process competitive, for the benefit of Virginia consumers.”

Hanson sent the letter on behalf an LS Power limited partnership, which began operation of two 170-MW natural gas peaking plants at the Doswell Energy Center in Hanover County, Va., in May 2018.

Marji Philips, LS Power’s vice president of wholesale market policy, said late Wednesday via email that the company “was pleased by Dominion’s recognition that the RFP was ill conceived at this time.”

— Christen Smith