Electric News Releases

Dominion Virginia Power Plans to Build Transmission Lines in Loudoun County

RICHMOND, Va. – Dominion Virginia Power applied Thursday to build two 230-kilovolt transmission lines to supply electricity to residents and businesses -- primarily new Internet data centers -- in the eastern part of Loudoun County near Washington, D.C.

The application was filed with the Virginia State Corporation Commission, which has the responsibility for determining the need, routes and environmental impact of transmission lines in Virginia. The new transmission lines are needed by May 2002.

“The need for additional energy and reliability in this area was accelerated by six years because of the development of these 'new economy' data centers," said Edgar M. Roach Jr., chief executive officer of Dominion Virginia Power. "A data center requires approximately 10 times more electricity than an average office building. These new centers have contracted for more than 400 percent more electricity during the next two years than the area was projected to have needed."

In its filing, Dominion Virginia Power asked for permission to build two short transmission lines. One line would be 1.6 miles long, running east from the company's Beaumeade substation near Smiths Switch Road along the W&OD Trail, then turning north along a Loudoun County sewer line to the new BECO substation. This substation is adjacent to the proposed Gloucester Parkway on the property being developed by BECO Management, Inc. The second line would be two miles long, running south from the Beaumeade substation along Smiths Switch Road before turning southwest along Waxpool Road to the WorldCom property. The line would then turn south to a new substation site on Shellhorn Road on property owned by Loudoun Exchange.

»  View a map of the proposed lines.

The company sponsored three public workshops, met several times with citizen groups and sought the assistance of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in an extensive evaluation of the possible routes. The company considered environmental and social impacts as well as service reliability and costs in its application.

Dominion Virginia Power is a subsidiary of Dominion, one of the nation’s largest producers of energy. Dominion serves nearly 4 million retail natural gas and electric customers. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's web site at www.dom.com.

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