This session, the Virginia General Assembly has the chance to improve transparency and implement common-sense protections around the massive data center industry that is reshaping Virginia’s communities, landscapes and environment through its voracious appetite for energy, land and water.
Virginia is the data center capital of the world and is currently home to over 300 data centers, largely concentrated in Northern Virginia and including sites for major tech companies. These large buildings, filled with computer servers, enable everything including streaming services, telehealth visits and artificial intelligence.
A single large data center uses over 100 megawatts of power daily — roughly equivalent to the energy needed to power 32,000 homes. They can also consume an enormous amount of water for cooling, and large data center campuses can convert thousands of acres of land into industrial zones.
Dominion Energy is projecting record electricity demand from data center growth, claiming that they will require 6,000 MW of new methane gas-fired power plants. A recent legislative report raised serious doubt as to whether Virginia’s electric system can accommodate this massive demand. Making matters worse, the report also concluded that this growth is likely to increase costs for all customers, not just the data centers that are generating the need for them.
A key factor in the data center industry’s growth in Virginia has been the state’s available tax exemption. Virginia was an early adopter of such a policy in 2008 and has since expanded its scope. In its current form, Virginia hands out large tax breaks — often to large tech companies valued in the trillions — with minimal requirements under which data center companies can easily qualify. While data centers “tax” Virginia’s electric grid, they are being given large tax breaks.
What can be done? Virginia can chart a better path for data centers by maintaining a commitment to clean energy that benefits people’s health, environment and economy. This better path requires Virginia’s leaders to ensure that data centers wanting to locate in the state demonstrate a commitment to these principles — keeping us on a path to a fully decarbonized electric system, while minimizing other negative impacts.
The Southern Environmental Law Center is advancing solutions to unchecked data center growth. The nonprofit, nonpartisan environmental legal advocacy organization’s mission is to protect the right to clean air, clean water and a livable climate. As their name suggests, the organization focuses on the Southern region of the United States.
During this legislative session, SELC and its partners are focused on presenting data center proposals to increase transparency at the local and state level about impacts, so that elected officials can make informed decisions. SELC is advocating for a redesigned tax exemption to be far more selective about the types of data centers Virginia attracts. And SELC is pushing for early oversight by the State Corporation Commission for these high-energy projects so they do not threaten Virginia’s electric system or increase bills for residential customers. SELC invites you to join them.
For more information on Southern Environmental Law Center, please visit southernenvironment.org.
