The proposed “Daves Store” substation and transmission line would connect a planned electrical substation for the “I-66/Route 29 Technology Park,” just north of U.S. 29 near Linton Hall Road, with a cluster of substations planned for data center properties near Wellington Road, across from Jiffy Lube Live. The line would end at an existing NOVEC substation at Wellington and Rollins Ford roads.
Along the way, the 100-foot-tall power towers would skirt the northwestern edge of the popular Virginia Gateway shopping center at U.S. 29 and Linton Hall Road.
Dominion Energy will hold its first public meeting on the new transmission line on Tuesday, Jan. 9 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Gainesville High School.
The meeting is being called to allow residents to review four proposed routes for the transmission towers as well as engineering designs and photo simulations, according to an announcement on the utility’s website.
The Coalition to Protect Prince William County is already calling for the new transmission line to be buried to avoid more unsightly power towers in western Prince William. The nonprofit waged a years-long fight against the most recent transmission line erected in the Haymarket-Gainesville area that resulted in part of the route being buried underground.
“This is yet another extension cord for nothing other than the needs of one industry,” said Elena Schlossberg, the coalition’s executive director. “But for the needs of this one bulk customer, the community would not be bearing the burden for these lines, or the aesthetic damage they will cause or the cost.”
Dominion Energy’s announcement did not specify the need for the new transmission lines other than to say it is being planned for continued “economic development” in western Prince William County.
But in a statement, Dominion Energy spokeswoman Peggy Fox acknowledged that the I-66/Route 29 technology park, a new data center campus nearby, “will be served by the proposed facilities.”
“However, the area as a whole will benefit from the enhanced reliability and networked nature of the substations and transmission line,” she added. “So, while driven by data center growth, all customers will benefit.”
Fox also said Dominion Energy has already determined that the Daves Store transmission line cannot be buried because of various restrictions along the route, including an existing gas line.
“The project team evaluated underground routing for the project and determined it would not be prudent to build due to space constraints for required construction workstations and ‘transition stations,’ impacts to other utilities in the area, … (the) planned widening of Wellington Road … and impacts to environmentally sensitive areas,” Fox said in an email.
Burying transmission lines underground requires “transition stations” wherever the lines enter and exit the ground. Transition stations look like substations and can be upwards of a few acres, Fox added.
Among the benefits of the new line, Dominion lists that it will strengthen electrical reliability and operational flexibility in the area, according to Dominion’s website.
Dominion has not yet said what the new transmission line will cost. The expense for such infrastructure improvements is born by all Dominion Energy ratepayers.
The Virginia State Corporation Commission will have the final say in whether the route is approved and exactly where it will go. Dominion Energy says it will file an application with the state regulators by the end of March 2024.
Reach Jill Palermo at jpalermo@fauquier.com