Orange County meeting draws strong opposition to Dominion/Valley Link 765 kV plan; board vows further action

Dominion Energy and its Valley Link joint venture told the Orange County Board of Supervisors on March 24 that a proposed 115‑mile, 765 kilovolt transmission line between Joshua Falls and Yeet is intended to reinforce the Mid‑Atlantic grid and meet rapidly rising demand, particularly driven by data centers. Dominion representatives said the backbone line would be built largely on new right‑of‑way, include lattice steel towers about 135–160 feet tall and a typical corridor about 200 feet wide, and is scheduled for a state filing in September with an in‑service target of 2029 if approved.

The presentation, led by Brandon Stites (Dominion vice president of engineering and construction) and Adam Magcguire (Valley Link lead project manager), laid out the technical justification — including a stated capacity of roughly 6.6 gigawatts — and the routing process: an initial mapping phase, community open houses (March and June), route refinement, and then an application to the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SEC). Dominion said PJM, the regional grid operator, identified the need during its 2024 planning cycle and that the SEC handles final siting decisions.

Why it matters: county officials and residents said Orange County would bear most of the project’s local impacts while seeing little or no direct benefit. Supervisors and planning commissioners pressed Dominion on alternatives — including parallel use of existing rights‑of‑way,…