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tion of technology to reduce electricity use but those measures would not obviate the need for the proposed line, Smatlak said.
In many categories, Virginia ranks last nationwide in energy conservation, Miller noted. “We’re jumping to (a) transmission (line) without looking at other alternatives,” he said.
Dominion projects electricity demand would grow about 10 percent during the next five years, Diamond said. “Any reasonable” programs to reduce consumption during critical peak use periods (4-6 p.m.) would alleviate such excessive demands placed on the system, he said.
Dominion has all but dismissed the idea of burying a line because of technological challenges and cost. An underground line would add about $1.6 billion to the 40-mile line, Smatlak said. Machines at the Meadowbrook and Areola substations to convert alternating to direct current would cost about $1 billion, he said.
It would cost about $10 million per mile to build an above-ground line, according to Dominion.
PEC doubts a regional need exists for the line, which would zigzag through the Piedmont. That roughly 40mile segment of a much longer transmission line would link
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