Frequently Asked Questions

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The Mid-Atlantic Resiliency Link (MARL) is a proposed 500kV transmission line originating at the 502 Junction in West Virginia to bring coal fired energy into Loudoun County's "Data Center Alley.  These lines traverse Frederick County, Virginia; Jefferson County, West Virginia then enter Loudoun County, Virginia traversing Neersville and Lovettsville approximately 15 miles to the Potomac River where it crosses into Frederick County, Maryland then heads south through Montgomery County, Maryland and crosses the Potomac again to finally connect into the Golden Substation in Eastern Loudoun County, Virginia.  

The MARL Transmission line is part of  a set of transmission projects approved by PJM to import energy to meet the unprecedented power demands of the  data center industry in Eastern Loudoun County, Virginia.

There are a number of alternatives to building a 500kv transmission line through rural Virginia:

• Build in-state base load generation  (Natural Gas , Nuclear)
• Site the transmission lines along highway easements that minimizes the use of eminent domain  - in this case specifically Route 7
• Use underground HVDC within the existing right of way 
• Re-conductor existing transmission lines 
• Advanced Converter, 
• Upgraded  cables
• Grid-Enhancing Technology (GETS) 
• Require Data Centers to participate in Demand /Response and energy efficiency programs   
• Build micro-grids

Any combination of the above.

No, PJM has already moved the in-service date for MARL by three years and Dominion Energy has projected some data centers will need to wait up to 7 years to connect to the grid.  The threat of brownouts and blackouts is just a scare tactic.  The need is purely economical and driven by  new data centers under construction and existing data centers that want to expand.  Additionally,  more data centers are being approved for development. The data centers estimate their energy use based on their business plans and submit energy requests to Dominion Energy.  Those energy demand requests are used in PJM's forecasting and transmission planning.  The data centers may use less or more energy than they have requested (or they may pack up and leave town).  If the transmission line is not built by the requested in-service date, the data centers will not be able to build out their business ventures on the timeline they have planned.

PJM is the Regional Transmission Operator serving the approximately 65 Million electric customers in 13 states plus the District of Columbia. PJM's service area includes all or parts of Delaware, Illinois,  Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia,  West Virginia, the District of Columbia, and, Pennsylvania,  New Jersey, and Maryland.  PJM's mandate is to oversee the safety, security and reliability of the transmission system within its region.  PJM has no authority to commission the building of electric generation facilities, therefore the only solution to any "problem" identified by PJM will be transmission, even though building generation closer to the energy demand maybe a more economical solution. 

The approximately 65 million rate payers in the PJM region will share the "socialized" cost of the MARL Transmission line, as well as the cost of the rest of the projects that PJM approved to bring base load power into Eastern Loudoun County to  provide energy to the data centers.