Global Data Centers News

DataBank has announced details of a community food drive by its employees in Denver and Dallas. - Denver volunteers sorted and packed food boxes at the Food Bank of the Rockies, helping move 508 boxes containing 12,620 pounds of food equivalent to 10,516 meals.

• Dallas Metro team delivered 440 pounds of food representing 337 meals to the North Texas Food Bank, while additional employees contributed via an Amazon wish list shipped to Dallas headquarters.

The Piedmont Environmental Council has announced that its Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows is a co-recipient of the Solar Farm of the Year award. - The award is part of the annual North American Agrivoltaics Awards and will be presented on October 27 at Solar Farm House in Chicago.

• The project is described as Virginia’s first crop-farming agrivoltaics project; it uses 42 solar panels on a quarter-acre portion of an 8-acre farm, generating about 130% of the farm’s electricity needs with a backup battery system for full energy independence.
• PEC says the project launched in October 2025 and has hosted tours and workshops; the article also says Virginia’s grid may need to double or triple in the next 15 years due to data center-driven demand.

EESI has published a climate and energy newsletter summarizing recent congressional action, upcoming briefings, and related resources.

• Senators Shelley Moore Capito, Sheldon Whitehouse, Mike Lee, and Martin Heinrich introduced the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 (S.5653), a permitting package focused on transmission, grid capacity, and data center energy costs.
• The newsletter also notes the Hydropower Licensing Transparency Act becoming law, the Modernizing Access to Our Public Oceans Act being signed, the Senate advancing the Agricultural Act of 2026, and an upcoming Oct. 7, 1:00-2:30 p.m. EDT online briefing on interregional transmission co-hosted with WRI.

Nature has published a science-fiction short story in which an unnamed narrator is repeatedly asked, “Were you at von Neumann’s party?”

• The story is a fictional narrative set in Princeton and references John von Neumann, Institute for Advanced Studies, IBM, and a hall of servers in a data centre-like room.
• It is not a real-world announcement or deal; the piece is literary commentary/fiction, with no commitments, prices, or project details disclosed.

The Piedmont Environmental Council has issued an email alert urging Virginia to impose a statewide moratorium on new data center development and to convene a special legislative session.

• The alert says Governor Spanberger released a Data Center Accountability Framework and signed Executive Order 22 on Sept. 18, but argues the measures are insufficient and do not immediately stop new data center approvals or grid connections.
• It cites a 53.8 gigawatt pipeline in energy service contracts held by Dominion Energy, references proposed transmission lines, backup generation, onsite gas turbines, and mentions the March for a Moratorium events in Culpeper and Leesburg.

Troutman Pepper Locke attorneys Josh Combs and Andy Flavin discussed transmission investment, affordability, and accountability in the Southeast, with a focus on Virginia’s data center corridor and local responses to data center growth.

• The speakers described how utilities and regulators can require community engagement, local investment, and other tangible benefits from large customers while balancing customer bills, affordability, and economic development.
• They said Virginia had not enacted a severe state-level moratorium or repeal of data center incentives in the 2026 General Assembly session, but Loudoun County was discussing a possible local moratorium on data center permitting; they also noted Virginia localities generally retain siting authority over substations but not transmission lines.

PEC has announced a local advocacy push around Culpeper County’s proposed Comprehensive Plan amendment to limit the impacts of transmission lines serving data centers. - The Culpeper Board of Supervisors is scheduled to take a final vote on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at the County Administration Building, 302 N. Main St., Culpeper, VA, on an amendment first proposed in June after the Valley Link 765-kV transmission line project. - The amendment is intended to shape State Corporation Commission (SCC) review of transmission projects; Dominion plans to file the Joshua Falls-Yeat project with the SCC in November. The email also promotes a March for a Moratorium event on Sunday, Oct. 11, 1–3 p.m. at the Culpeper LOVE sign, and cites additional rallies in Leesburg on Saturday, Oct. 17 and Richmond on Saturday, Oct. 24.