WASHINGTON, DC – Wood-based biomass fuel firm Enviva says it signed a contract with Richmond, VA-based Dominion Virginia Power, one of the U.S.’s largest energy producers, to supply biomass to two power facilities in southeast Virginia.

In April, Dominion announced plans to convert three 63-megawatt coal burning peaking plants to 50-megawatt continuous power plants using biomass.  Enviva will supply two of these plants, located in Southampton and Hopewell, VA, with processed wood  pellets,

This fall, Enviva’s flagship wood pellet plant in Ahoskie, NC, will commence operations, producing up to 400,000 metric tons of wood pellets per year.

In August, Enviva said it would develop a second wood pellet facility in nearby Northampton County and a strategic partnership with Biomass Energy to operate its Bumpass, VA-based wood chip and pellet manufacturing facility.

Enviva also operates two wood pellet facilities in Mississippi. The company’s total annual production capacity will reach 750,000 metric tons by the end of 2011.

Wood biomass and wood pellet fuel production has been growing significantly as European and U.S. power company's seek greener fuel sources. Wood pellet exports from the US and Canada to Europe reached 1.6 million tons in 2010, a doubling of shipments in just two years, says an industry research group. The demand is driven by a European Union initiative to derive more power from renewable resources.