CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. — A helicopter hovers over the Gee family farm, the noisy rattle echoing inside their home in this rural part of West Virginia. It’s holding surveyors who are eyeing space for yet another power line next to the property — a line that will take electricity generated from coal plants in the state to address a drain on power driven by the world’s internet hub in Northern Virginia 35 miles away.
Richard Gee and his wife, Mary, walk along their property with daughters Isabella, 14, and Maria, 16, with transmission lines that abut their land shown behind them in Charles Town, W.Va., in January. But PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator, says the plan is necessary to maintain grid reliability amid a wave of fossil fuel plant closures in recent years, prompted by the nation’s transition to cleaner power.Power lines will be built across four states in a $5.2 billion effort that, relying on coal plants that were meant to be shuttered, is designed to keep the electric grid from failing amid spiking energy demands.
With Amazon Web Services pursuing a $35 billion data center expansion in Virginia, rural portions of the state are the industry’s newest target for development. Department of Energy. Multiple-building data center complexes, which have become the norm, require as much as 14 to 20 times that amount. A PJM spokesperson said the organization has recently sped up its approval process and is encouraging utility companies and federal and state officials to better incorporate renewable energy.
Nearby sits the 502 Junction substation, connected to those plants and a third one about 43 miles away via existing power lines, which will serve as a terminus for a western prong of the PJM plan for new linesThe 502 Junction substation, to which transmission lines are connected, in Mount Morris, Pa. The Longview, left, and the Fort Martin power stations in Maidsville, W.Va.
After PJM tapped the company to build a 36-mile-long portion of the planned power lines for $392 million, FirstEnergy announced in February that the two plants will continue operating until 2035 and 2040, citing the need for grid reliability. More than 200 miles to the east in Maryland, environmental groups and ratepayer advocates are fighting an effort by PJM to extend the life of two more coal plants — Brandon Shores and Herbert A. Wagner — just outside of Baltimore, which were slated to close by June 2025.Darrell Abed, left, president of the board of directors for the Stoney Beach condo association, speaks with resident John Garofolo near the Herbert A. Wagner Generating Station.
Source: Tech Daily Report (techdailyreport.net)
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