A coalition that includes Dominion Energy and the parent company of Appalachian Power is planning an “extra-high-voltage” transmission line spanning 115 miles from the Lynchburg area to Culpeper.
The final route has yet to be determined, but a map of possibilities shows that the 765-kilovolt overhead line could cross nine counties: Appomattox, Buckingham, Campbell, Culpeper, Fluvanna, Goochland, Louisa, Orange and Spotsylvania.
Community meetings are planned to get residents’ feedback before a final path is determined. The steel lattice towers that carry the power lines would be 135 to 160 feet tall, would be spaced about 1,200 feet apart and would require 200-foot-wide rights of way.
The $1 billion project, anticipated to be completed in 2029, aims to bring power east from the Ohio Valley to Northern Virginia while improving the reliability of the overall electric grid.
It represents a major investment in grid infrastructure at a time when power demand is rising because of data centers, electric vehicles and other growth catalysts. Dominion anticipates its electricity demand will nearly double by 2035.
“This is very much like the interstate highway system for electricity,” said Craig Carper, a spokesperson for Valley Link Transmission, the newly formed coalition of energy companies, and Dominion Energy.
Carper said that while the electric grid is reliable today, it requires continued investment not only to serve growing demand but also to increase reliability during storms and other unforeseen events.
“Nothing works forever without updates,” he said.
[Disclosure: Dominion is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
The project has sparked concerns over its potential impacts on land and property, including the amount of greenfield land — land that doesn’t currently fall within existing utility rights of way — that could be affected, and how the developer would obtain the right to use property.
Michael Barber, a policy analyst for the nonprofit Piedmont Environmental Council, wrote in a note to the group’s supporters that the project would “clear thousands of acres, impact hundreds of property owners and irreparably change an entire region — all to deliver power to Dominion Energy’s growing queue of data centers.”
“High voltage transmission lines are like new superhighways and the land within several miles on either side will be subject to new development pressure, for potential substations, generation and new data center proposals similar to the development pressures opened up by interchanges on a highway,” Barber wrote.
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted March 2 to oppose the line and present a formal resolution at its March 16 meeting. Virginia’s State Corporation Commission has authority over the project, but supervisors said they hoped the vote would send a message.
Supervisor Rachel Jones compared the transmission line to the construction of Interstate 64, which she said split her husband’s family farm in half.
“We couldn’t imagine living in Louisa County without I-64, but land was taken for that. … Louisa County has lived this before,” Jones said.
If the project is approved, Valley Link will employ real estate agents and appraisers to negotiate easements with property owners. Easements are agreements under which a property owner maintains ownership of land but is compensated for its use.
If a landowner doesn’t want to enter into an easement agreement, a public utility in Virginia has the right to exercise eminent domain, in which private land is legally taken, with compensation, for public use.
“That is the absolute last resort, nothing that we want to go through,” Roya Smith, a transmission routing specialist for the project, told Louisa supervisors at their Feb. 17 meeting. “It is a negotiation process.”
Rob Richardson, a spokesperson for Valley Link and Dominion’s transmission team, emphasized in an interview that the project is still in its early stages and officials have not yet determined a final route.
“Where we are now is, we have real impacts to people’s property and we want their input,” Richardson said.
Valley Link has scheduled a virtual informational meeting for noon Monday and is in the process of holding in-person meetings in the affected counties.
More information, including a QR code for Monday’s virtual meeting, a schedule of the upcoming in-person meetings and a map of the proposed corridors, is available on Valley Link’s website, www.vltransmission.com.
Project would extend large line east and north
Valley Link Transmission is a partnership among Dominion Energy, FirstEnergy Transmission LLC, and Transource Energy LLC, which itself is a partnership between American Electric Power and the electric utility Evergy.
The proposed transmission line project is known as Joshua Falls to Yeat, named for the electric substations that would be at its endpoints.
A 765-kilovolt transmission line is the highest voltage used in the United States.
Appalachian Power’s parent company, American Electric Power, has operated 765-kilovolt lines for decades, but this project would mark the first line of that voltage for Dominion.
Dominion’s highest-voltage lines now are 500 kilovolts. A 765-kilovolt line can carry three times as much electricity as a 500-kilovolt line.
The project would use overhead lines. Valley Link officials say that burying lines underground is impractical for 765-kilovolt transmission and note that no lines of that size operate underground in the United States.
Today, an existing 765-kilovolt line ends at Appalachian Power’s Joshua Falls substation in Campbell County.
That’s the same substation where Appalachian is considering building a small modular nuclear reactor.
The new transmission line would extend the 765-kilovolt supply from Joshua Falls to the Yeat substation, which hasn’t yet been built, in Culpeper.
From there, it would connect to other Dominion-owned lines to supply power to Northern Virginia.
Community meetings, regulatory review ahead
The project has already been approved by PJM Interconnection, the regional transmission operator that manages the electric grid for Virginia, 12 other states and Washington, D.C.
It was among multiple projects that PJM said in February would help reinforce the reliability of the electric grid.
Another Valley Link project was approved to build 260 miles of 765-kilovolt transmission line between Putnam County, West Virginia, and Frederick County, Maryland.
For the Joshua Falls to Yeat project, Valley Link Transmission sent notices to about 120,000 property owners who live within a mile of the proposed routes.
After the community meetings are completed, the company’s engineers will determine Valley Link’s preferred route.
Once Valley Link has determined the preferred route, it will file an application with the SCC, which manages public utilities in Virginia, around September.
Officials anticipate the SCC will take a year to evaluate and weigh in on the project and its route, so a decision around September 2027 is likely.
The SCC’s process is likely to include opportunities for the public to comment on the project.
If the SCC approves the project and authorizes a final route, Valley Link will begin negotiating with property owners for easements.
The capital cost of the project will be spread among transmission operators in the PJM service territory, including Dominion and Appalachian Power, which will determine how to incorporate those costs into their customers’ bills.