Latest news with #KaitlinMcCormick
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Four-state coalition urging residents to get familiar with MARL
May 15—MORGANTOWN — A four-state coalition is urging residents of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia to become familiar with the Mid-Atlantic Resiliency Link project — a 105-mile "major highway " of overhead transmission lines stretching from Greene County, Pa. to Frederick County, Va. The project — MARL for short — is to be built by NextEra Energy by fall of 2031. NextEra Energy Transmission Senior Director Kaitlin McCormick has described the 500-kv line as "one of the big, major transmission lines, " requiring a 200-foot right of way along its entire length. While the exact route of the project has yet to be announced, both Monongalia and Preston counties are in the path of at least one option. During a December meeting with the Monongalia County Commission, McCormick described the study area for the to-be-determined route as, "a small component in Pennsylvania, then we'll be crossing through West Virginia, into Maryland, back into West Virginia and then ending in Virginia." PJM Interconnection manages the electrical transmission system for a 13-state region that runs from Michigan to Tennessee, and from Illinois to Delaware. West Virginia is included in that region. So is the Washington D.C. area, for which PJM is predicting a dramatic increase in the number of power-hungry data centers coming online. Data centers are facilities that house computer systems and related equipment used to store, process and distribute data and applications. In other words, these facilities are the backbone that support our modern, digitally-connected lives. And they require a lot of juice. This is one of the major points watchdog groups want people to be aware of — the power lines might run through your community, or even your property, but that doesn't mean you'll be plugged in. Mark Stutzman is the communications director for Engage Mountain Maryland, one of the groups responsible for pulling together the larger, multistate PowerUP For Our Future. "A lot of people don't understand the enormity of the power that these data centers use, " he said, explaining the nearly 200 facilities in Loudoun County, Virginia's "Data Center Alley " pulls as much power as two million homes. "So, think of this project basically as a massive extension cord that's hooking [data centers ] up to Pennsylvania power plants. Marylanders, for example, won't benefit from any of this power, " he said. "These companies, like NextEra, calculate what they're going to charge their customers to cover the cost of building the project. So, it's really quite insidious what's happening, because you would think the customers should be benefiting by this, and they're actually not. The only people benefiting are with the data centers in Northern Virginia ... Ultimately, we, the customers, are the ones footing the bill for all of it. I don't think a lot of people realize that." NextEra refutes that claim, stating the MARL will not only help ensure the reliable delivery of electricity across the PJM region, but spur job opportunities and investment in local economies. For individuals — particularly those notified by postcard earlier this year that their properties may be impacted — the questions are more about what happens if your land is in the chosen path ? Will eminent domain be invoked if you don't give the company an easement ? That was one of the first questions that formed in Rachel Stevens' mind when she received such a postcard back in February. She lives on 13 wooded acres just north of Bruceton Mills, on the West Virginia / Pennsylvania line. While the Stevens family has since learned their property likely won't be distrubed, one or more of their neighbors are still very much up in the air. "People live here because they want a quieter life. They love nature. They love hunting, fishing and recreation, " she said. "I just want people to know what their rights are as landowners. I'm upset for them because the majority I've spoken to don't want this on their land. I've been trying to spread the word because a lot of folks don't know. Even the folks who got postcards, some of them ignored them initially. But this is important because it will be no small impact to their lives if this goes through." For additional information, check out and
Dominion Post
15-05-2025
- Business
- Dominion Post
Four-state coalition urging residents to get familiar with MARL
MORGANTOWN — A four-state coalition is urging residents of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia to become familiar with the Mid-Atlantic Resiliency Link project – a 105-mile 'major highway' of overhead transmission lines stretching from Greene County, Pa. to Frederick County, Va. The project – MARL for short – is to be built by NextEra Energy by fall of 2031. NextEra Energy Transmission Senior Director Kaitlin McCormick has described the 500-kv line as 'one of the big, major transmission lines,' requiring a 200-foot right of way along its entire length. While the exact route of the project has yet to be announced, both Monongalia and Preston counties are in the path of at least one option. During a December meeting with the Monongalia County Commission, McCormick described the study area for the to-be-determined route as, 'a small component in Pennsylvania, then we'll be crossing through West Virginia, into Maryland, back into West Virginia and then ending in Virginia.' PJM Interconnection manages the electrical transmission system for a 13-state region that runs from Michigan to Tennessee, and from Illinois to Delaware. West Virginia is included in that region. So is the Washington D.C. area, for which PJM is predicting a dramatic increase in the number of power-hungry data centers coming online. Data centers are facilities that house computer systems and related equipment used to store, process and distribute data and applications. In other words, these facilities are the backbone that support our modern, digitally-connected lives. And they require a lot of juice. This is one of the major points watchdog groups want people to be aware of – the power lines might run through your community, or even your property, but that doesn't mean you'll be plugged in. Mark Stutzman is the communications director for Engage Mountain Maryland, one of the groups responsible for pulling together the larger, multistate PowerUP For Our Future. 'A lot of people don't understand the enormity of the power that these data centers use,' he said, explaining the nearly 200 facilities in Loudoun County, Virginia's 'Data Center Alley' pulls as much power as two million homes. 'So, think of this project basically as a massive extension cord that's hooking [data centers] up to Pennsylvania power plants. Marylanders, for example, won't benefit from any of this power,' he said. 'These companies, like NextEra, calculate what they're going to charge their customers to cover the cost of building the project. So, it's really quite insidious what's happening, because you would think the customers should be benefiting by this, and they're actually not. The only people benefiting are with the data centers in Northern Virginia … Ultimately, we, the customers, are the ones footing the bill for all of it. I don't think a lot of people realize that.' NextEra refutes that claim, stating the MARL will not only help ensure the reliable delivery of electricity across the PJM region, but spur job opportunities and investment in local economies. For individuals – particularly those notified by postcard earlier this year that their properties may be impacted – the questions are more about what happens if your land is in the chosen path? Will eminent domain be invoked if you don't give the company an easement? That was one of the first questions that formed in Rachel Stevens' mind when she received such a postcard back in February. She lives on 13 wooded acres just north of Bruceton Mills, on the West Virginia / Pennsylvania line. While the Stevens family has since learned their property likely won't be distrubed, one or more of their neighbors are still very much up in the air. 'People live here because they want a quieter life. They love nature. They love hunting, fishing and recreation,' she said. 'I just want people to know what their rights are as landowners. I'm upset for them because the majority I've spoken to don't want this on their land. I've been trying to spread the word because a lot of folks don't know. Even the folks who got postcards, some of them ignored them initially. But this is important because it will be no small impact to their lives if this goes through.' For additional information, check out and
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Residents turn out for open house on proposed 105-mile power line from Pennsylvania to Virginia
May 12—dbeard @ 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.
Dominion Post
13-05-2025
- Business
- Dominion Post
Residents turn out for open house on proposed 105-mile power line from Pennsylvania to Virginia
dbeard@ 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.
