First Energy owns an existing 138 kilovolt transmission line (right) that runs alongside an existing 500 kilovold line owned by Dominion Energy. The location shown here is just south of Washington High School.
First Energy, the local electric utility, will hold an open house event at the Shepherd University Wellness Center on Wednesday, August 13 from 6 to 8 pm to share information on a new high-voltage transmission line it wants to build through Jefferson County.
Data Centers Driving Power Demand
For the past two years, PJM Interconnect, the regional electric grid operator, has been pushing to expand transmission capacity in the mid-Atlantic, largely in response to escalating demands for power from data centers in northern Virginia.
While the data center industry has been growing steadily for the past decade, the energy demands of AI computing are expected to grow exponentially. According to recent testimony from the Piedmont Environmental Council to a Virginia regulatory agency, electricity use by Virginia data centers has increased eightfold in the past ten years, and is projected to do the same again within the next five years.
New Line Proposed Through Jefferson County
The transmission line that First Energy will discuss at the August 13 event is a new 500 kilovolt line that will begin near Winchester VA, cross Jefferson county into Maryland, and terminate in Loudoun County VA. The company is referring to this project as “Gore-Doubs-Goose Creek Improvements Project” (GDGC). The new First Energy line would connect with the “Mid Atlantic Resiliency Link” (MARL) transmission line that energy company NextEra is proposing to construct between Morgantown and Winchester.
First Energy already has a 138 kilovolt line running along this path in Jefferson County, which runs alongside an existing 500 kilovolt line owned by Dominion Energy (see image above). The company says it intends to build the new line mostly within the footprint of its existing 138 kilovolt line by replacing the existing wooden “H” frame towers with taller “monopole” towers. The monopole towers would carry both the new 500 kilovolt line and the rebuilt 138 kilovolt line.
The company has disclosed two areas in Jefferson County where it says it plans to deviate from the existing right of way with the new towers — as the line crosses south of Washington High School and near Millville, where it crosses the Potomac River.
What’s Next
Before beginning construction, First Energy must obtain a “Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity” from the West Virginia Public Service Corporation (PSC). In correspondence sent to residents adjoining the existing right of way, the company indicated it intends to file that application with the PSC in December.
In February 2025, the Jefferson County Commission sent a letter to PJM opposing the project, but it has not yet decided whether to intervene formally in the PSC case.
Elsewhere, county governments have taken stronger stances: the Monongalia and Preston County Commissions voted to oppose the MARL project and have filed to become intervenors in that proceeding.
More Projects In The Pipeline
According to the information provided so far by First Energy, the impact of this project would fall mostly upon the landowners immediately adjacent to the existing line. However, this project appears to be just the beginning of a multi-year expansion of the power grid throughout the entire mid-Atlantic region.
PJM Interconnect added the MARL/GDGC line to its plans in 2023. In early 2025, PJM confirmed plans for a separate 765 kilovolt line that would run through Jefferson County in a direction similar to the MARL/GDGC line. The current PJM planning cycle includes proposals for additional lines running in the same west-to-east corridor to serve the power demands of the northern Virginia data center industry.
The State of West Virginia has responded to this imbalance of energy generation and demand with the Microgrid and Data Center legislation signed into law by Governor Patrick Morrisey earlier this year. According to the Governor, the intent of this legislation is to encourage the data center industry to invest in West Virginia and use locally-generated power rather than building transmission lines to serve other localities.
