Northern Virginia Daily Online Edition, July 28, 2008

by Garren Shipley

WINCHESTER — A 500-kilovolt transmission line planned to run from Frederick County to Loudoun County should be built, a Virginia State Corporation Commission hearing examiner said in a report filed today.

Tests run by Dominion Virginia demonstrate that the commonwealth will need to import more power from points west into the Northern Virginia region by 2011, wrote Hearing Examiner Alexander Skirpan, in his report which will be forwarded to the three-member commission for a final decision.

"Primarily on the strength of the Dominion test, tests based on the most current data continued to demonstrate the need for additional transmission in 2011," he wrote.

Proposed by Dominion Virginia and Allegheny Power, the line is needed to alleviate overloads on existing transmission lines that could cause rolling blackouts in places like Northern Virginia in as little as three years, according to the two utilities.

Opponents of the line have argued that the $1 billion-plus project isn't needed, and is instead a way for the two companies to sell more cheap electricity generated on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains in the lucrative mid-Atlantic and Northeastern corridor markets.

For further developments, visit nvdaily.com or read the print edition of The Northern Virginia Daily.