The line could bypass the Doubs substation in Adamstown.
Councilman Steve McKay
Frederick, Md (KM) A change is being proposed for the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project. That’s a 70-mile long, 500-kilovolt transmission line which would extend through northern Baltimore County, central Carroll County and southern Frederick County including the New Market and Ijamsville areas. It; would hook up to the Doubs substation in Adamstown before crossing into northern Virginia.
County Councilman Steve McKay says PJM, which ,manages the regional electric grid, and called for the construction of the line, is proposing the line go directly to northern Virginia, bypassing the Doubs substation. “By connecting Doubs substation it kind of furthers the argument that the MPRP will benefit Maryland and the proposed data centers that are being constructed in the Eastalco area that’s north of Doubs,” he says.
But, McKay says, bypassing the Doubs substation undermines PJM”s argument that the transmission line will benefit Maryland. “If it’s not stopping at a substation in Frederick County, then it’s not directly supporting anything in Frederick County. It’s just providing electricity. And we know that all of that electricity and more is needed in northern Virginia for their data centers,” he says.
McKay says the proposal has not been made part of the plans to build the MPRP transmission line, but it could come in the future.
When the project was made public earlier this year, it generated a lot of opposition, particularly from farmers and other property owners whose lands were in the pathway of the transmission line. McKay says many of these farms are in agricultural preservation. “For Frederick County, Carrol County and Baltimore County, it will have a severe negative impact on residents and their properties, on farmers, including those in ag pres, our local businesses. There’s just nothing good about it,” he said.
All along, McKay says, it’s always been about the data centers in northern Virginia. “We all know that the primary purpose of MPRP is to transmit power to the northern Virginia data centers,” he says.
Councilman McKay urges residents to write the Public Service Commission, which will decide whether or not this project goes forward. The PSC set up an e-mail address to receive public comments on the project. ([email protected])
The contractor which plans to build the project, Public Service Enterprise Group, has not yet submitted an application to the PSC asking that MPRP go forward. It has said it will submit its application late this year.
By Kevin McManus