Dominion to discuss transmission rebuild project at Short Pump meeting

Residents in western Goochland got a first look at how Dominion Energy plans to rebuild aging 500-kilovolt transmission lines that cross Broad Street in Oilville, with new steel monopoles, tree clearing inside the existing easement, and construction staged while the lines stay energized. The company said the project is still early, but the footprint already raises practical questions for nearby property owners about reliability, vegetation removal, and what can change along the corridor before plans harden.

Dominion held an in-person public meeting May 14 at Residence Inn Short Pump at the Notch, 1800 Wilkes Ridge Circle in Richmond, as part of outreach on the Carson-Midlothian and North Anna Transmission Rebuild Project. Goochland County said there was no formal presentation, only a chance for attendees to talk with Dominion representatives and ask questions. The county added that Dominion is proposing to rebuild existing transmission lines between the Carson, Midlothian and North Anna substations, and that the lines run through Goochland.

The utility says the existing 500-kV lines are approaching the end of their useful service life and need to be rebuilt to support increased generation supply and customer demand. Dominion also said it plans to keep the current 500-kV lines in service during construction, a step that makes the project more complex and helps explain why the company is proposing a partial rebuild of the existing 230-kV line between Midlothian Substation and Oilville at Broad Street so the 500-kV and 230-kV lines can share the same structures in that segment.

Dominion said the corridor between North Anna, Midlothian and Carson is usually at least 235 feet wide, and that surveying of the 500-kV lines in the existing right-of-way began in January 2026. In the Midlothian-to-Oilville segment, the company said the existing single-circuit weathering-steel lattice towers would be replaced by single- or double-circuit steel monopoles averaging about 190 feet tall.

Tree and vegetation clearing will be a major issue for residents along the route. Dominion said work will require clearing across the existing easement because parts of the corridor are still uncleared, and any unapproved encroachments would have to be fully removed. For Goochland, that puts the visual impact and land-use questions squarely on the table in a county that has already been closely tracking transmission proposals.

Dominion said it expects to file with the Virginia State Corporation Commission in August 2026. The company also held a virtual meeting May 6 and in-person meetings May 6 in Louisa County and May 11 in Powhatan. The Goochland meeting came as the county was already in the middle of a separate fight over Valley Link, the 765-kV proposal that supervisors have opposed and for which they later set aside $250,000 for advocacy.