Onshore Transmission Line Route
As a result of community involvement and input, Dominion Energy identified a proposed transmission line route and several alternatives and filed an application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) with the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) on November 5, 2021. After nine months of careful review, the SCC selected the transmission line route that will support the CVOW project.
Of the options considered by the SCC, the proposed and approved onshore transmission line route maximizes the use of publicly owned land and existing right-of-way. It also minimizes, to the greatest extent possible, impacts to private property, the community, the environment, and historical and cultural resources.
The route begins at State Military Reservation, where the undersea offshore export cables supporting the offshore wind turbines come ashore. The underground route then proceeds to U.S. Naval Air Station Oceana, where the power switches to overhead transmission lines. It then continues toward London Bridge Road, connecting with an existing transmission right-of-way in the West Neck Creek area near the Castleton neighborhood.
The route proceeds west, overlapping the former Southeastern Parkway and Greenbelt roadway project until just past Princess Anne Road. It then moves southwest, crossing Salem Road and the Intracoastal Waterway in Chesapeake. The route turns south toward Battlefield Golf Course before heading west into Fentress Substation, which was expanded to accommodate the new equipment needed to support the additional transmission lines that will connect offshore wind energy to the broader electric grid.