New Power Line for Amazon May Run Above Railroads Despite Opposition

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[font size=1]Map of proposed electric line routes for an expanded Amazon data center in Haymarket, Virginia, as drawn by Dominion Power in 2015.[/font]

Amazon, Regulation, Washington DC Area

New Power Line for Amazon May Run Above Railroads Despite Opposition

by Scott Fulton III on April 11, 2017

The Virginia State Corporation Commission cleared the way last Thursday for the state’s largest utility provider, Dominion Virginia Power, to seek the approval of local regulators to build a new electric substation, along with a 230 kV transmission line in a series of towers along an existing railroad line. Both will serve, in the words of the Commission’s interim order, “a single retail customer,” whose identity is a secret to no one: Amazon.

In issuing the order, the Commission rejected the contention of opponents to the power line, including a citizens’ group entitled the Coalition to Protect Prince William County. That group had been pushing for Dominion to adopt a plan to build the line partly along Interstate 66 and partly underground (shown in the map above in light blue). And the power company had originally stated its preference for a completely overhead route along I-66 (the dark blue line running parallel in parts), the Commission acknowledged in its order.

But the Commission chose the railroad route (red line), citing construction costs about one-third those of the Coalition’s preferred alternative, and arguing the route would impact the town’s residents least of all.
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All of this squabble is holding up Amazon’s plans announced in January 2015 to expand its Haymarket facilities, in the heavily competitive Richmond data center market, to about 500,000 square feet.