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They get this project approved then come the multiple power line projects that will threaten to take my family’s farm and my house and raise everyone’s electric bills!
Part 2 - The claim that the Woodside substation will connect Frederick County homes and businesses with the regional electric grid is false. Frederick County is already connected to the regional electric grid and the existing transmission lines that already travel through the County can handle any future electrical needs for Frederick County. If Frederick County wants to build a data center or other electricity-intensive industry, it would make a request to the electric company that serves the site, and that company would arrange a service hook up, whether it requires a new lower voltage substation or a new transmission service line. NextEra does not serve any customers in Virginia and may not be a public utility recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Woodside substation and transmission lines have been planned to serve new load in Loudoun County, not Frederick, and are oversized to serve any data centers that could be located adjacent to the proposed substation site.
PJM has approved, or is currently planning, four extremely high voltage transmission lines up to 200 feet tall running in parallel across Frederick County that total over 2,400kV! In addition, PJM’s plan calls for connecting the existing Stonewall substation to Woodside using two new 138kV lines. While the Stonewall substation may be in the general vicinity of Woodside, it is on the opposite side of both I-81 and Route 11. This would add an additional two high-voltage transmission lines to the four already planned to cross those two roadways, for a total of six high-voltage transmission lines and a 35 acre substation greeting visitors from the north traveling on I-81. Maybe Frederick County can post a sign there that says, “Welcome to Virginia’s Electric Transmission Super Highway! We all serve Loudoun!” and make a tourist attraction out of it?
Frederick County between the only base load electric plants with excess capacity and the energy demands of Data Center alley. Clear Brook is already in the cross hairs of not one but TWO massive overhead transmission lines.
The 500kV MARL/Gore-Doubs-GooseCreek line - proposed on new 200' easements in places, re-built in other locations in the existing easement with the existing 138kV in the existing easement on 185' towers.
And the 765kV Valley Link line - a retread of the PATH line defeated in 2012 - only worse! Valley Link is proposed on new 200' easements for its entire length and would be built on V-Structures with guyed-wires.
And NOW in its 2025 Window 1 proposals PJM is ALREADY evaluating a proposal to modify the MARL/Gore-Doubs-GooseCreek project to ADD another 500kV line.
The Woodside substation is NextERA's plan for the property you are currently evaluating for re-zoning:
"Convert the 500kV single circuit 502 Junction - Woodside 500kV project under development (PJM Baseline Upgrade ID b3800.102) to a double circuit configuration between Fort Martin and the NEETMA/APS interconnection point in Frederick County, VA, to accommodate Circuit 1 (b3800.102: 502 Junction – Black Oak – Woodside 500kV) and Circuit 2 (Fort Martin – Sandy Creek – Woodside 500kV)."
Make no mistake, if NextERA prevails and is granted the re-zoning request, NextERA has bought 30+ acres and they will fill it - with industrial infrastructure - to its maximum allowed footprint per the zoning ordinance .
The Clear Brook community as well as other rural towns will be "sandwiched" between multiple overhead HVAC lines , hundred acre data center industrial zones and 10 - 30 acre substations. This is the wrong location for a 30 acre substation. Find a location that is already zoned for industrial use. Don't Ashburn Clear Brook!!!