Dominion substation to be expanded

Dominion Energy is planning to upgrade and expand the Westcott Substation, located along the Holmes Run Stream Valley Trail between the Valley Brook and Broyhill Crest neighborhoods.

Max Payeur and Andrew Tull of Dominion described the project at a meeting of the Mason District Land Use Committee on Feb. 28.

The substation was built in 1952 and serves some 3,250 customers.

Dominion will replace outdated equipment with new technologies that will enable the successful integration of distributed energy resources, such as home solar panels, electric vehicle charging, and battery storage.

The project will not increase capacity. Two modern transformers will be installed to replace the two existing ones.

The fenced area of the existing substation footprint is expanding by 3,990 square feet to accommodate the new equipment, such as digital relays, automation devices, and power quality monitoring equipment.

The new technology will allow Dominion to respond faster if there is an outage. The presenters suggested the upgraded substation could be quieter but don’t know for sure.

Construction is expected to start in late 2023. The project is slated to be completed in summer 2025.

According to Dominion, there won’t be a disruption in power during construction.