Hoping For Better Design, Loudoun County Delays Vote On Golden Substation

ASHBURN, VA – Loudoun County supervisors have again delayed a vote on the proposed new Golden substation, voting narrowly on Tuesday to delay a vote on the design of the substation until Dec. 1.

The county voted in July to move the vote to its Sept. 1 meeting.

The substation is planned for a site on Rt. 28 east of Pacific Boulevard along the Washington and Old Dominion Trail. It is one of the extra-high-voltage substations that forms part of a transmission line loop through the county.

The substations and the power lines that will link them have caused debate among county residents, community associations and schools as various groups fight to keep their property and neighborhoods from being affected by either the substations themselves or high-voltage power lines on poles exceeding 150 feet.

The design of the Golden substation has become a contentious issue. A county working group has presented design changes to Dominion Energy, but the utility and the county have not been able to come to a mutually acceptable design. However, Sterling District Supervisor Koran Saines (D) says he believes the utility will be able to come up with better possible designs with more time.

Algonkian Supervisor Juli Briskman (D) said she planned to deny the substation application and regretted delaying the vote once again. Briskman said the substation placement did not align with the county’s general plan.

Some supervisors questioned the wisdom of the delay, saying the substation is more important for residential energy use than for data centers.

The county has been responding to public pressure and implementing policies that more thoroughly scrutinize data center development and the energy infrastructure required to support it. Board Chair Phyllis Randall questioned whether delaying the substation would endanger the county’s power supply but was told that the county couldn’t confidently answer that question.

County residents have been fighting various powerline routes connecting the substation to the county energy grid for years. Loudoun Now reports that a representative from one of those groups, the Loudoun Valley Estates Homeowners Association, spoke during the public comment period about the project. Loudoun Valley Estates HOA President Victor Block asked the board to hold Dominion Energy to a high standard and demand that the utility “build here like their own families live here, too.”

Dominion Energy argues that the new substation is required to keep the county's energy grid reliable. In a statement to Patch, Dominion said it "takes the Board’s feedback seriously and has worked to evaluate the design considerations raised during its review of the Golden Substation."

"We have looked at ways to incorporate elements from other referenced substations while also balancing the technical requirements of this critical 500/230 kV facility. The Golden Substation is critically important to maintaining reliable electric service for customers in Loudoun County and is on a critical timeline. The project’s June 2028 in-service date, established by the State Corporation Commission, becomes increasingly difficult to meet with each deferral and delay.
We remain committed to working with Loudoun County and other stakeholders to address design considerations while advancing the project and the reliability needs it is intended to serve," Dominion said.

Opponents of some of Dominion's planned transmission line routes have argued that the utility sometimes overstates the urgency of projects to advance its preferred timelines and state regulators shouldn't put so much weight on the utility's preferred timeline.