Alternate Routes Proposed in Dulles Farm, Kirkpatrick West, Kirkpatrick Farm, Lenah Mill, Stone Ridge and Willowsford
This text was taken from an email alert sent out on May 30, 2025. Sign up for email alerts →
Dear Supporter,
I’m writing today to let you know that you may be impacted by newly proposed transmission line alternate routes through Loudoun County that were just announced last week, and you have a limited amount of time to speak up.
At the bottom of my email I’ve listed info about attending the upcoming virtual community meeting on Monday, June 2 and ways for you to submit comments.
What’s happening?
Increasing energy demand in Loudoun — the data center capital of the world — requires extensive new infrastructure buildout. To meet the load demand, fueled principally by data centers, Dominion Energy has initiated several new/expanded major transmission line projects, including the Morrisville-Wishing Star Electric Transmission Project.
Morrisville-Wishing Star is a 36.5-mile transmission line route that begins in southern Fauquier County at the Morrisville Substation, continues north through Prince William County, and ends at the Wishing Star Substation, near Arcola in Loudoun County.
Over the last month, Dominion has held four county-based open houses to present options for the Morrisville-Wishing Star route to community members. The final community meeting, covering all three counties, is scheduled online for this Monday, June 2 from 12 – 1 p.m., and your input is needed!
At the Loudoun-based open house on May 21, Dominion unveiled alternate routes to the public for the very first time.
Consideration of alternates is a crucial step for infrastructure development and required of Dominion Energy by the State Corporation Commission (SCC). When new transmission lines are needed, the utility company identifies that need, maps viable routes, engages the community and then submits its proposal to the SCC. However, Dominion didn’t provide its alternate routes until the day of the Loudoun community meeting, which were only seen by the 21 people who attended the open house, including PEC and partner staff. Because of this, neither the County government nor residents had time to adequately consider the alternate routes and express their concerns and preferences.
Loudoun County Supervisor Matt Letourneau wrote in a Facebook update on Saturday, May 24, that even he was blindsided by the new routes, despite months of engagement with Dominion. Letourneau has reached out to leaders of the impacted homeowners associations (HOAs) and is requesting that the Board of Supervisors formally submit its position to the SCC, alongside Dominion’s filing, in favor of utilizing an existing transmission line corridor and not the newly released alternates.
Dominion’s preferred route for the approximately five-mile stretch of new buildout in Loudoun is along an existing powerline corridor in the Stone Ridge area. This “wreck and rebuild” project would tear down the lattice structures currently in the corridor and replace them with taller monopole structures to add an additional 500 kilovolt (kV) transmission line in the corridor. This option requires minimal expansion of the existing right of way, concentrated to the south around the Loudoun and Mosby substations.
What are the options?
Dominion’s alternate routes would each create a new 100-foot wide corridor for an additional 500 kV line. The existing corridor and towers would remain, and transmission lines would effectively surround the homes in between.
Each of the three alternate routes is slightly different, but all would branch off the existing corridor and come back to meet it just before U.S. Route 50:
- The first alternate deviates to the west from the existing corridor around a half mile north of the Loudoun and Mosby substations, cutting across Auburn Farm Road, running up Lightridge Farm Road, and then along Northstar Boulevard. This alternate would clip the edge of Goshen Corner Park, and about 60 homes would be in close proximity.
- The second variation would depart the existing transmission line corridor at Braddock Road, following Braddock west about a half mile until turning north at Northstar Boulevard. About 60 homes would also be in close proximity to this route.
- The third variation turns west from the main line between Helms Terrace and Beardgrass Place, running through common open space up to Tall Cedars Parkway and then just to the east of Arcola Elementary School. Over a dozen homes would be in close proximity to this route.
Each of the alternates would rejoin the existing corridor by cutting across undeveloped, county-owned land north of Millstream Drive where the South Fork of Broad Run Creek runs.
What’s the concern?
Dominion has said it would prefer to use the existing right of way to wreck and rebuild the corridor with greater transmission capacity and minimal impacts. However, Dominion has been clear that routing remains “fluid” throughout the SCC application process.
If the SCC, or Dominion’s regional transmission organization, PJM, feel the grid cannot accommodate the planned outages or the longer timeline needed to do wreck and rebuild work, an alternate route may be necessary. New construction would allow the existing lines to keep operating and the new 500 kV line to come online more quickly, despite the impacts to surrounding neighborhoods. Given the pressure on Dominion from a backlog of data center demand, along with the fact that PJM recently voiced grave concerns about all-time peak load pressure in the near future, approval of a rebuild effort is uncertain and makes alternate options more pressing.
If chosen, any one of these alternate routes would have drastic new impacts on communities including Dulles Farms, Kirkpatrick Farms, Kirkpatrick West, Lenah Mill, Stone Ridge and Willowsford. The routes would surround parts of these communities between the new 500 kV line and the existing corridor, and require much more land. They would take additional right of way and pass close to homes, behind schools, across a creek, over HOA open space and even over a public park.
What can you do?
Your input to Dominion Energy, your Board of Supervisors, and later the SCC, is absolutely crucial. Please consider weighing in on these new alternate routes, which will impact neighborhoods along the Northstar Boulevard corridor.
Here’s what you can do:
- Submit comments to Dominion before it files with the SCC, by using the GeoVoice tool on the Morrisville-Wishing Star Project Page, by email at [email protected], or by phone at 888-291-0190. We reached out to Dominion to ask about a deadline for comments, and they told us that there is no deadline and all comments will be included.
- Attend the final community meeting scheduled by Dominion for this project. It is a virtual public information session next Monday, June 2, from 12 – 1 p.m.
- Click here to join the meeting via Webex. Enter webinar number 2342 477 0956. Or you can dial in at +1-415-655-0002 United States Toll, Access code: 2342 477 0956. Attendees can ask questions and comment during the meeting.
- Finally, reach out to your Supervisors asking that Loudoun County officially submit its preference for the existing transmission line corridor. Contact Matt Letourneau ([email protected]) of the Dulles district, Laura TeKrony ([email protected]) of the Little River district, and Chair at-large, Phyllis Randall ([email protected]).
This is the last opportunity to give input to Dominion before it files its case with the SCC (expected in July). After that, it will be months before the case is heard and public comment will be accepted.
Thank you for staying informed in your community and please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions.
Regards,
Emily Johnson
Land Use Field Representative – Loudoun County
[email protected]
540-347-2334 ext. 7044
