AI’s power needs are moving the infrastructure fight beyond data-center sites

What happened?

Valley Link proposes approximately 260 miles of new 765-kilovolt transmission lines between Putnam County, West Virginia, and Frederick County, Maryland, with two new substations. Its Valley North project page says the developer is gathering route feedback and working toward a preferred route in early 2027. These remain proposals, not completed infrastructure.

A separate Valley Link project, Joshua Falls to Yeat, would cross Virginia counties from Campbell to Culpeper. Orange County says its Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission unanimously oppose that project as presented because they consider it inconsistent with the county’s comprehensive plan. The county notes that route and permit approval rests with the State Corporation Commission, rather than the county itself.

Source: Valley Link ↗ · Source: Orange County, Virginia ↗

Demand forecasts are part of the dispute

In responses published by Orange County, Valley Link identifies projected growth as the main driver, with generation retirements also contributing. The developer names data centers and electric-vehicle loads alongside residential, business and government growth. That is the developer’s planning account—not an independent finding that every proposed line serves AI alone.

Source: Orange County, Virginia / Valley Link ↗

Why does it matter?

Our analysis: approving a computing campus is only one part of its physical footprint. The debate also needs to account for the routes, substations and land commitments required to move electricity to it. Local benefits and regional reliability arguments should be assessed alongside those burdens.

A useful public process would make the assumptions inspectable: how much demand is committed, which alternatives were compared, and how a slower or relocated buildout would change the case. Presenting those choices clearly is more informative than treating every objection as hostility to technology—or every transmission proposal as an unavoidable consequence of progress.