RICHMOND, Va. – Dominion Virginia Power applied Friday to the Virginia State Corporation Commission for permission to build two transmission lines — a 500,000-volt line and an associated 230,000-volt line — in southeastern Virginia to meet the increasing demand for electricity in Hampton Roads.

The SCC is responsible for approving the need for and route of all transmission lines of 150,000 volts and higher in Virginia. This project, which is estimated to cost $223.9 million, needs to be in service by the summer of 2011.

If approved, the 500,000-volt line would extend about 60 miles from the company’s Carson Substation in Dinwiddie County to its Suffolk Substation near Suffolk, crossing Prince George, Sussex, Southampton and Isle of Wight counties.

The associated 230,000-volt power line would be about 21.5 miles long and be constructed within an existing right-of-way from the Suffolk Substation to the Thrasher Substation in Chesapeake. (View a route map.)

"Dominion has an obligation to provide reliable and economical electric service to our customers, now and in the future," said John Smatlak, vice president-Electric Transmission. "These new lines are necessary to ensure continued reliable electric service to residences and businesses in a broad geographic area that is heavily dependent on the transmission system."

The SCC will set a schedule for public hearings. Dominion sponsored a series of public workshops in October 2006 in Carson, Wakefield, Windsor, Suffolk and Chesapeake, during which residents in the study area provided information about various route segments that Dominion considered in its process.

Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers of energy, with a portfolio of more than 26,500 megawatts of generation. Dominion serves retail energy customers in 11 states. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at http://www.dom.com. Additional information about this transmission line project is available at http://www.dom.com/about/elec-transmission/powerline/carson/index.jsp.

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