A Florida energy company is planning to build a high-voltage power line in southwest Pennsylvania and three other states to feed data centers in northern Virginia. To complete the project, the company is seeking the right of eminent domain in Pennsylvania.
NextEra Energy Transmission MidAtlantic Inc. is planning the 107-mile MidAtlantic Resiliency Link Project from Dunkard Township, Greene County, Pa., to an endpoint in Northern Virginia.
The 10-mile Pennsylvania portion of the line runs along the southern border with West Virginia, through portions of Greene and Fayette counties. The rest of the line goes through West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia.
The 500-volt line would be able to send electricity from the mostly coal-fired grid in West Virginia and the natural gas-fired grid in southwestern Pennsylvania to power-hungry northern Virginia, the data center capital of the world.
The project was awarded to NextEra by PJM, the regional electric grid operator, which covers parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia. PJM said the project was needed to meet data center demand and retirements of some power plants. The power grid needed the upgrade “due to the high demand for west to east power flow” within PJM, according to testimony before Pennsylvania regulators by Sami Abdulsalam, PJM’s director of transmission planning.
“At its core, the MidAtlantic Resiliency Link is about reliable electricity,” said NextEra spokesperson Brianna Green, in an emailed statement. “We all rely on more power today than we did decades ago when the existing transmission system was built, and that growing demand is putting a strain on the grid. We cannot wait for the grid to fail to fix it.”
NextEra is asking the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission for a certificate of public convenience, which grants it the right of eminent domain for the project. Eminent domain allows utilities to take private land in exchange for “just” compensation.
Christina Blasinsky of the Center for Coalfield Justice says her group has been hearing from residents opposed to the idea.
“That impending threat of potentially losing their homes is genuinely the biggest issue, that is the biggest concern that we hear from every resident that we speak to,” Blasinsky said. “They are afraid of losing their home and that they’re not going to have a choice over the matter.”
In response to questions about the use of eminent domain, Green said, “Our goal is to work with landowners early in the process to address concerns and negotiate voluntary agreements.”
Green added that construction in Pennsylvania would support $33 million in economic output and 150 jobs in construction and related activities. In its filings before the PUC, the company’s own economic analysis found that the project would result in no full-time jobs in the state once the project is complete.
Blasinsky said the benefits of the project would flow out of state.
“This does not benefit anybody in Pennsylvania whatsoever. Ever. This is strictly to power data centers in Virginia,” she said.
A spokesman for the PUC said a prehearing conference will be held at 10:00 a.m. on May 6 to discuss NextEra’s request before Administrative Law Judge John M. Coogan, who has been assigned the case.
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