Where We Stand
Valley Link has not filed a regulatory application yet. That is the most important thing to understand about the timeline below. The route is still being drawn, which is exactly the moment when public pressure changes outcomes.
- 2009 to 2012A nearly identical line was defeated. The PATH project, also 765 kV, was proposed in 2009. Frederick County, Maryland denied its substation zoning in 2010. PJM suspended it in 2011 and formally killed it in 2012 after the claimed need never materialized.
- February 2025PJM, the regional grid operator, approves the Valley North project.
- Winter and spring 2026Valley Link meets with local officials and state and federal agencies to shape its study segments.
- Summer 2026Valley Link holds its first round of public open houses.
- Early fall 2026We are here. Valley Link is evaluating the study segments and developing route alternatives from the feedback it received.
- Late 2026Your next chance to be heard. A second round of public open houses on the updated routes. Turnout and comments at these meetings go on the record.
- Early to mid 2027The formal fight begins. Valley Link plans to publish proposed and alternate routes and file its regulatory applications in West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland. In Virginia that means a case before the State Corporation Commission, where residents can comment and affected landowners can take part directly.
- Late 2027 through 2028Permitting, environmental studies, and easement acquisition.
- 2029Construction would begin.
- 2031Target in service date.
Timeline as published by Valley Link.
Projects like this are decided by public utility regulators, including the Virginia State Corporation Commission, the regional grid operator PJM, and federal regulators at FERC. These bodies are required to weigh public input, and the comments and turnout of ordinary residents genuinely shape the outcome. That is exactly why signing on, showing up, and getting on the record matters now, well before the applications are filed.