CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Cumberland County leaders approved a massive, three-gigawatt natural gas plant Tuesday, expected to generate electricity for hundreds of thousands of Virginia homes when it comes online within the next eight years. In the evening hours of Tuesday, Oct. 20, the Cumb erland board of supervisors voted 3-1 to approve the plant after hours of public comment. Jeremy Slayton, a spokesperson with Dominion Energy, told 8News in May that the plant — which would be located near Columbia Road and the James River — is expected to come online in 2033 or 2034. "The proposed Cumberland Energy Center is a vital piece of our all-of-the-above strategy to reliably meet our growing customer demand and decrease our reliance on more costly purchases from the PJM market," Slayton said in a statement to 8News the morning of Thursday, Oct. 22. The decision follows a vote in late August in which a majority of the county planning commission recommended advancing the project. According to Dominion Energy, the new plant would produce “around-the-clock” power for 75,000 homes across Virginia. The project is also expected to create about 450 construction and operations jobs and generate about $500 million in local tax revenue over the life of the project. The project must receive approval from the State Corporation Commission (SCC) and an air permit from the Department of Environmental Quality before construction can begin. The SCC previously approved Dominion’s proposal for five solar and battery storage projects in late April. ...read more read less