Power Line Slated for Upgrade

By Kafia A. Hosh

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Dominion Virginia Power has announced plans to upgrade a transmission line that stretches for 9.3 miles through parts of Loudoun, Fauquier and Prince William counties.

Dominion officials say the project, which requires approval from the State Corporation Commission, is needed by 2012 to avoid power outages in Loudoun.

The utility plans to tear down a 115,000-volt line and replace it with a double-circuit 230,000-volt line, along a route that begins at a Loudoun substation near Arcola and runs 2.2 miles through Fauquier and 1.4 miles through Prince William before ending at a substation in Middleburg.

The new line would continue to serve 16,000 Dominion customers and two delivery points in the Cedar Grove and Arcola areas that are used by NOVEC, a nonprofit corporation that distributes electricity.

Dominion will host an open house from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Dulles South Multipurpose Center in South Riding to hear public comments and give resix dents a chance to study a map of the line's route, said Dominion spokeswoman Le-Ha Anderson.

"It's just important to get public input, because we don't know what issues people will have," she said.

Anderson said Dominion will not have to buy easements to replace the line. Other than the line's construction inconveniencing nearby residents, "we believe that this will have minimal impact," she said.

Anderson said the double-circuit line will provide the area with more reliable power and replace a line that was built 56 years ago.

"We're approaching a situation where there's going to be an overload on that line," she said. "In the event of a power outage, we have another source of electricity to feed the customers" with the double-circuit line, she said.

The line would continue to pump electricity into the two NOVEC delivery points that serve 6,082 NOVEC customers. The delivery point in Arcola connects to a nearby substation that serves Loudoun residents. The one in Cedar Grove connects to two substations along the Loudoun and Prince William border and serves mostly Prince William residents.

Although those NOVEC customers have not experienced any power outages, the existing transmission line "is at a capacity that would call for its upgrade," said NOVEC spokesman Mike Curtis. "In fact, it's already exceeded that capacity."

Curtis said an upgraded line would help NOVEC prepare for projected customer growth, estimated at from 2 to 5 percent annually over the next three years.

"We can't say, 'Whoa, you can't build your home. You can't build your business until we have the infrastructure in place,' " Curtis said. The company is "making sure that we're ahead of the curve so that we'll be able to meet what's anticipated to occur," he said.

Curtis said NOVEC updates Dominion annually on its growth projections. "Those communications are back and forth on a regular basis, certainly at least annually . . . so they would know what our requirements are going to be," he said.

Anderson said Dominion plans to submit the proposed project to the SCC in the fall and begin construction by next year. She said Dominion hopes to have the line built by early 2012.

Information about the power line upgrade is at www.dom.com.

Tagged: Dominion Power, power line

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