Residents turn out for open house on proposed 105-mile power line from Pennsylvania to Virginia

Dominion Post

13-05-2025

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MORGANTOWN – Several hundred people turned out at the Erickson Alumni Center Monday afternoon for an open house to learn about the proposed NextEra Energy Transmission MidAtlantic Resiliency Link project.
They talked with NextEra employees and viewed the rows of posters displaying the possible routes and how the project will progress.
The Link is a proposed transmission project to build a new 105-mile 500-kilovolt transmission line potentially in the following counties stretching from Greene County, Pa., to Frederick County, Va. Depending on the route selected, it could pass through Monongalia and Preston counties, along with Hampshire County and Mineral counties, Allegany Garrett counties in Maryland and Fayette County in Pennsylvania.
The project also consists of building a new 500/138-kV substation in Frederick County, Va.
PJM Interconnection, the regional 13-state power grid operator, selected it among a number of projects, stemming from its long-range Regional Transmission Expansion Plan, to address reliability issues associated with loss of power generation sources, support for new power sources and additional electricity demand in the region.
Landowners came with such questions as if the line would cross the land, how they and the areas would benefit, and if they would be fairly compensated for right-of-way easements.
Kaitlin McCormick, senior director of development at NextEra explained the project and answered some questions about it.
PJM, she said, is forecasting a loss of about 11 gigawatts of generating capacity along with an increase of 7 GW of power demand in the coming years. 'This project is one of the projects that was awarded to help make sure that we have safe, reliable power throughout the region.'
New transmission lines, she said, provide the opportunity to move electricity from where it is available to help offset where some of the retirements are happening.
She didn't have an estimated cost for the project but said ratepayers are charged a transmission fee, approved by their state regulators (the Public Service Commission for West Virginia), on their monthly bills.
On the costs, PJM said, 'Regional transmission solutions benefit all customers in the PJM footprint.' Costs will be allocated through a cost allocation methodology approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
NextEra, McCormick said, worked with a consultant to support a routing study for the project, including environmental and natural resource constraints, and working the state and federal agencies to get their input. 'We've been looking at where there are population centers and where there are existing transmission lines or other infrastructure. One of the core tenets of our process is that to the extent that we can, we would like to parallel where there's existing transmission.'
For most of the route, she said, they will need a 200-foot right of way. They've held a series of open houses – Monday's was fifth and three more are planned, including one at the Bruceton Brandonville VFD in Preston County on Wednesday – to get input from landowners about possible routes and answer their questions.
'We have not selected a route yet for this project,' she said, 'Our goal is to work with landowners, and to engage them to understand whether or not they have interest, maybe whether their neighbors might have interest, and the goal is to come and to work with the community.'
A look at the map shows what one NextEra employee called a 'spaghetti' of possibilities. Some reach down into Mon and Preston counties, some stay in Greene and Fayette counties before dipping into Maryland.
Following the open houses and selecting a route, she said, NextEra is looking to file applications with the PSC and other state's regulators early this fall. A project timeline shows expected state regulatory approvals in spring 2027, start of construction in fall 2029, completion by fall 2031 and lines in service by winter 2031.
'We really appreciate the feedback and the engagement from the public,' McCormick said. 'Our goal is to have the MidAtlantic Resiliency Link help to provide safe, reliable electric electricity in the region and to support all these local communities in the areas, so we appreciate the feedback.'
Among the questions landowners asked is how they would benefit from a line passing over their property from Pennsylvania to Virginia. We asked McCormick about the potential benefits.
One, she said, is reliable power. Another, high-demand customers will have the opportunity to interconnect – either at the Danville, Md., substation along the Mineral-Allegany line, or at other points they would work out with PJM.
And, 'there are tax revenue benefits that come in. Here in Mon County, we're looking at $50 million to $100 million over the 40-year life of the project.'
Landowners along the line will be paid for their easements, she said. And they anticipate several hundred construction jobs during the two-year construction period.
Delegates Joe Statler, R-Monongalia, and John Williams, D-Monongalia, were among the local officials attending the open house.
Statler said NextEra met with them in Charleston during the legislative session, and learned they want to parallel existing lines as much as possible, and he was at the open house to look at that. And to explore if the new line would benefit existing local power plants. 'You've got an open mind.'
Williams said he came on behalf of a constituent who owns some business property where the line could pass through in Pennsylvania and is concerned.
For himself, he said, 'The company, the way that they're interacting today, they're being extremely professional answering questions. I've been to a few of these before. I've never seen people so interested in the public input, so I think they're doing a fantastic job with that. I do have some questions on what is this power generation or transmission, rather, what is it going to be used for.'
Could it be for grid stabilization, do data centers play a role, what would be the power mix feeding the lines.
On the topic of data centers, also raised by others at the open house, McCormick said, 'PJM's estimates and what they are forecasting holistically is part of what we're looking at.'
We noted in a report on PJM in January that PJM has warned that a capacity shortage could affect its system as early as the 2026-2027 delivery year, which begins June 1, 2026. Among the factors affecting this are the demand for electricity growing at the fastest pace in years, primarily from the proliferation of data centers, electrification of buildings and vehicles, and manufacturing.
NextEra Energy Transmission, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, operates about 2,200 circuit miles of transmission lines across North America. NextEra Energy Transmission and its subsidiaries developed, designed and constructed transmission projects across 16 states and Canada.