Fairfax County supervisors on Tuesday (Jan. 13) set a pair of future public hearings on proposed revisions to zoning rules for large-scale battery storage in the county.
The proposed changes would impact what are known as Battery Energy Storage Systems, or BESS. Language in the amendments would add a new definition for BESS and add new use standards and submission requirements, including minimum setbacks and the completion of a noise study before a site plan can be approved.
With the new year underway, Dominion Energy is gearing up for another round of tree maintenance along the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail, shifting its focus to the Reston area.
The power company has flagged 19 “hazard” trees near its electrical lines for removal in a 2.7-mile stretch of the trail between its Hunter Mill Road substation in Wolf Trap and the Reston substation on Sunset Hills Road, Dominion Electric Transmission Forestry Manager Amanda Keyes told NOVA Parks Executive Director Justin Wilson in a Dec. 16 letter.
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The developers of a Virginia offshore wind project are asking a federal judge to block a Trump administration order that halted construction of their project, along with four others, over national security concerns.
Dominion Energy Virginia said in its lawsuit filed late Tuesday (Dec. 23) that the government’s order is “arbitrary and capricious” and unconstitutional. The Richmond-based company is developing Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, a project it says is essential to meet dramatically growing energy needs driven by dozens of new data centers.
The Trump administration on Monday suspended leases for five large-scale offshore wind projects under construction along the East Coast due to what it said were national security risks identified by the Pentagon.
Among the affected projects is Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, which has been under construction about 27 miles off of the Virginia Beach coast since 2023.
Dominion Energy is planning to take down more trees near its power lines along the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail — this time, with the consent of NOVA Parks.
Starting next Monday (Oct. 20), the power company will begin “selective” pruning and removals of trees and other vegetation on a 2.6-mile section of the trail between its Clark substation in Vienna and the Hunter substation in Wolf Trap, just outside Reston.
The chainsaws have gone quiet, but the fight to preserve trees along the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail isn’t over yet.
A number of elected officials, nonprofits and community organizations plan to renew pressure on Dominion Energy over its approach to tree clearings with a rally tomorrow (Saturday) in Vienna.
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.
RICHMOND—Bren Pointe residents in Fairfax County are closer to seeing steel transmission towers rise just outside their townhomes after Virginia’s regulators approved a new electricity line to serve a single planned commercial data center.
Despite objections to one of the projects from nearby residents, the Fairfax County Planning Commission at its July 9 meeting approved Dominion Energy’s requests for two new electrical substations to support future data centers in the Dulles area.
A 300-megawatt Towerview substation will be wedged between Sully Road (Route 28) and Park Center Road in the Floris neighborhood, just east of Dulles International Airport. Dominion will lease the site from the owner of the Dulles Gateway data center, which is being constructed immediately to its south.
Pedestrians and cyclists who frequent the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail will need to find an alternative route through the Dunn Loring area this week.
The trail closed yesterday (Monday) between Gallows Road in Dunn Loring and Shreve Road in Idylwood to give crews room to install a new electric transmission line as part of Dominion Energy’s Clark-Idylwood reconductor project. The closure will remain in place on Friday (July 11).
More than 2,000 properties in Fairfax County, most of them in McLean, are currently without power, as the D.C. region suffers through a potentially prolonged heat wave.
According to its outage map, Dominion Energy has 2,132 customers in Fairfax County without power, as of 3:25 p.m. The largest outages appear to be centered around downtown McLean, where crews are assessing the damage to the affected electrical infrastructure.
