Dominion Virginia Power has chosen a preferred route for a needed 500,000-volt transmission line in Northern Virginia. The entire route is along an existing power line corridor connecting substations in eastern Frederick, southern Fauquier and eastern Loudoun counties.

The transmission line is needed by the summer of 2011 to alleviate potential overloads on other power lines serving Northern Virginia. These overloads can be avoided only by increased transmission line investment in the region or through mandatory load curtailment actions such as “rolling blackouts.” Dominion reached its decision after working closely with regional grid operator PJM Interconnection to evaluate the changes in the latest load flow computer model. The changes have resulted in higher overloads, increasing the need for this line.

Electrical demand in Northern Virginia has grown by about 40 percent over the last decade. PJM Interconnection has cited Dominion as having the fastest growing demand for electricity at peak times among any of the PJM regions across 13 states. PJM likened the increase in demand on the Dominion system to adding approximately 1 million new houses over the next five years.

Elected officials, including state Sens. Russell Potts and Charles Colgan and Delegates Joe May and Clay Athey, have encouraged Dominion to look for routes that use existing corridors for this power line instead of building through upper Fauquier County, which is home to key historical and cultural landmarks and rolling countryside.

The preferred route is estimated to cost about $210 million. The entire route is along an existing transmission right of way that begins at the Meadow Brook substation in Frederick County and goes south into Rappahannock, Culpeper and Fauquier counties to a substation near Remington. From there, the line would head east and then north – again along existing rights of way – to the Loudoun substation. The Loudoun substation serves about 30 percent of the electric load in Northern Virginia.

Dominion will file this preferred route with the State Corporation Commission by the end of April. The application also will include direct testimony about the necessity for the line. The SCC must approve construction of all transmission lines in Virginia with a voltage of 150,000 volts or more.

The map of the preferred route is available at: http://www.dom.com/about/elec- transmission/powerline/meadowbrook/pdf/remington_map0213.pdf

Dominion is one of the nation’s largest producers of energy, with an energy portfolio of about 28,000 megawatts of generation, about 6.5 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves and 7,800 miles of natural gas transmission pipeline. Dominion also operates the nation’s largest underground natural gas storage systems with more than 960 billion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves retail energy customers in 11 states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company’s Web site at www.dom.com.