The Kraken Loop: Dominion's Greenwashing or a Grid in Crisis?
Let's be real, folks. When Dominion Energy Virginia starts talking about "clean energy" and "meeting future demand," my cynicism alarm goes off like a siren in a horror movie. And believe me, with the latest news about their proposed "Kraken Loop" transmission line and a slew of new solar and battery projects, that alarm is screaming. They want us to believe they're building a greener tomorrow. I ain't buying it, not entirely. What I see is a utility scrambling, a grid straining, and a whole lot of questions about who really benefits.
This "Kraken Loop" isn't some cute little fishing trip. We're talking about a beast of a project: 70 miles of 500-kilovolt power line, carving its way through Louisa, Spotsylvania, Caroline, Stafford, and Fauquier counties. It's connecting North Anna to something called the Kraken Substation, then on to the Yeat Substation. Sounds like something out of a sci-fi novel, doesn't it? But it's very real, and it's coming to a neighborhood near you. Dominion's got these public meetings scheduled, like the one coming up on Thursday, November 20, 2025, at Madison Elementary. You can bet your bottom dollar those rooms will be packed with folks who are tired of being told what's good for them. I've been to enough of those; the air is thick with polite corporate double-speak and thinly veiled resident rage. You can almost feel the collective eye-roll when a Dominion rep starts talking about "stakeholder engagement."
The Green Facade and the Data Center Beast
Now, Dominion is quick to point out they're also pushing for 11 new solar and battery storage projects – a whopping $2.9 billion investment, their biggest clean energy filing ever. Six utility-scale solar farms, three smaller ones, two battery facilities. All supposed to be online by decade's end. Sounds great on paper, right? Like they're finally getting serious about the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), which, let's not forget, mandates them to go 100% renewable by 2045. But here's where my BS detector starts pinging like crazy.
Dominion's own guys, like spokesman Craig Carper, say the Kraken Loop isn't solely for data centers. Yeah, right. They're also admitting electricity demand in Virginia is set to roughly double by 2038. And what's driving that? Oh, just those power-hungry data centers, especially for AI, electric vehicles, and more AC because, well, the planet's cooking. It's a classic shell game. They'll tell you it's for everyone, but anyone with half a brain knows where the real demand – and the real money – is coming from. Erin Sanzero from Protect Stafford, a local watchdog group, hit the nail on the head: this new infrastructure is gonna "facilitate more data center applications in previously less desirable areas." It's like building a superhighway to nowhere, only to find out it actually leads to a giant, blinking server farm.
And here's the kicker: Tim Eberly, another Dominion mouthpiece, pretty much admitted that this surging demand makes meeting those carbon-free targets "nearly impossible." So, they're building more stuff, calling some of it "clean," but also hinting they might need more time on the VCEA requirements. It's a classic corporate two-step: promise the moon, deliver a rock, then ask for an extension. They're talking about "all of the above" strategies, including natural gas "peaker plants" and even those not-yet-viable small modular reactors (SMRs). Sounds to me like they're just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, all while the meter keeps running, and we, the customers, are stuck with the bill.
The Financial Jenga Tower and Our Crumbling Faith
Speaking of bills, let's talk about Dominion Energy stock and their financial acrobatics. They just closed a $328 million shelf registration and filed a new $738 million one – both involving common stock offers. That's a lot of new equity floating around. The market's already scratching its head, with fair value estimates for Dominion Energy stock swinging wildly from $36.73 to $64.13. When a company's finances start looking like a Jenga tower after a particularly rowdy game, it makes you wonder about the long-term sustainability, doesn't it? They're projecting billions in revenue and earnings by 2028, but also acknowledge "cost and regulatory risks" could weigh on returns. Funny how those risks always seem to fall on the public, ain't it?
Dominion sees solar as the "cheapest and quickest" energy to build. Great. But they're waiting for battery storage to improve, because current tech only gives them a four-to-six-hour window. So, we're building these massive lines, these huge solar farms, but the storage isn't quite there yet. It's like buying a Ferrari but only having enough gas for a quick trip to the grocery store. What's the plan for when the sun ain't shining and the grid's still screaming for juice from all those new data centers? And what about the environmental impact of these massive new lines? They'll do their surveys, identify "threatened and endangered species," and cultural resources. But let's be publically honest, how much of that truly sways the final decision, especially when the State Corporation Commission (SCC) has the final say and seems to rubber-stamp most of what Dominion puts in front of them?
Then again, maybe I'm the crazy one here. Maybe this is all just the cost of progress, the necessary evil to power our increasingly digital lives. But when I look at these plans, I can't help but feel like we're caught in a technological hamster wheel, constantly building more infrastructure to feed an insatiable, ever-growing demand that someone, somewhere, is making a killing off of. And we're just supposed to smile and pay for it.
