First Energy And NextERA have filed Intent Notice in WV, Applications Expected December 2025

OVERVIEW  of  Mid-Atlantic Resiliency Link (MARL) 500kV    /  Gore - Doubs - Goose Creek  (500kV)

MARL is part of the over $5 billion in new transmission lines approved by PJM to support the projected 7,500 megawatts of new data centers in Northern Virginia as well as to compensate for the planned retirement of 11,000 MW of fossil fuel generation in its eastern region.

MARL starts at the 502 Junction and is a giant extension cord from West Virginia’s coal fired plants - specifically the Fort Martin Power Station, Harrison Power Station and the Mitchell Power Station - into the ‘heart’ of Loudoun County's data center alley in Northern Virginia.  All three of these generators are coal-fired and together total nearly 5,000 MW of capacity and according to PJM have excess capacity that can be tapped to support the development of new data centers (@117 )and expansion of the existing 200 data centers.  Four transmission companies will be building segments of this line : NextERA, FirstEnergy, Dominion & PG&E across four states.

Both of the First Energy of power plants are reaching the end of their useful life within the next 10 to 15 years,  at best this is a partial / temporary solution to the present energy shortfall in Virginia's data center region.  A better solution would be for the Data Centers to locate closer to the generation plants with excess capacity or to build additional generation in Virginia to meet the demand.

PJM doesn't have a transmission reliability issue, the region has a lack of base load generation in Virginia issue.

If approved in all 4 states, this line will traverse :

• 2 Counties in Pennsylvania: Greene County and Fayette County
• 5 counties in West Virginia: Preston County, Monongalia County,  Mineral County, Hampshire County and Jefferson County
• 4 Counties in Maryland Garrett County, Allegany County, Frederick County and Montgomery County
• 2 Counties in Virginia:  Frederick County and Loudoun County

NextERA 's portion of the  transmission line  is called Mid-Atlantic Resiliency Link (MARL) through :

• 2 Counties in Pennsylvania: Green and Fayette counties
• 4 Counties in West Virginia : Preston , Monongalia,  Mineral  and Hampshire counties
• 1 County in Virginia: Frederick County 
• 2 Counties in Maryland: Garrett and Allegany counties

Next ERA Project Maps can be found here: MARL Project Map

First Energy's portion of the transmission line  is called Gore-Doubs-GooseCreek through :

• 1 County in West Virginia: Jefferson County
• 3 Counties in Virginia: Frederick, Clarke and  Loudoun Counties

First Energy Project Maps can be found here: 

• Virginia And West Virginia Interactive Map
• Maryland Interactive Map   

Note for  Frederick and Montgomery properties in Maryland, south of Doubs - the project will result in there being 3 - 500kV and 2 - 230 lines in the ROW:  

• The Maryland  Fact Sheet says : "Removing two sideby-side structures that support an existing 500-kV line and two existing 230-kV lines and installing three side by-side structures that will support five lines (the existing lines plus two new 500-kV lines) for approximately eight miles."

Dominion Energy is building a segment in eastern Loudoun from the Potomac River to the Golden Substation this segment is approximately 3 miles and will be entirely within the existing easement.

At the request of Loudoun County, PJM moved a portion of the transmission line farther out into northern western  Loudoun County and  into Maryland. The Alternate MARL Route was approved by PJM in August of 2024, this route  crosses 15 miles of far Western Loudoun along the Potomac River crosses the Potomac River  into Maryland and runs through Frederick and Montgomery counties in Maryland before crossing the Potomac River back into Loudoun County near Ashburn.  This added $167M in cost,  pushed the in-service date to 2032 and added the additional segments First Energy is to build  through Frederick County and Montgomery County,  Maryland 

This transmission line will also cross the Monongahela National Forest, Appalachian National Scenic Trail, Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail and it will run parallel down the view shed of the Potomac River.

The Woodside substation is part of the MARL / Gore-Doubs-Goose-Creek Project.  

The property purchased / proposed for the Substation is in Clear Brook in Frederick County,  Virginia

NextERA could't have put together a fouler proposal if they tried.

• This is a 30 acre 500kV substation on a 72 acre lot which is a combination of 2 properties, one of which is a Rural Preservation Tract from the Ridgeway Estates Subdivision
• The substation comes within 40' of established homes and will destroy the equity those landowners have in their homes.  It would impact the drain fields of some of the homes. The site plan locates the substation  closer to the homes than to Route I81 -  the buffer on the I81 side is 100'
• The Frederick County Comprehensive Plan changes in 2023 marked this area for future (2035)  light industry  development.
• NextERA stated they choose this site because there were already transmission lines on it and this was the only farmer in the area willing to sell his property to them.

Note at this time the Valley Link 765kV proposal appears to run past the Woodside Substation but does not appear to connect into it.