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Virginia Data Center Intel
Latest data center news, projects, power and policy across Virginia — updated daily.
Virginia · Construction & power moves · 40
full tracker →Land, power, and interconnection moves across Virginia — each traced to primary filings.
Top JUST IN — Virginia
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PJM proposes reliability standards for large-load ride-through (no docket)
Source: PJM Inside Lines · Sep 10, 2026PJM Inside Lines reports that PJM has proposed new interconnection reliability requirements for large loads, including data centers and crypto-mining facilities, to require facilities to stay connected during grid disturbances and “riding through” voltage and frequency excursions. The article says the proposal responds to a June 18 FERC order and that “PJM plans to file proposed solutions to FERC in November.”
Backed by 1 primary filing — sign in or book a call to see all sources.
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PJM, Dominion Review Large Load Transfer Event
Source: PJM Inside Lines · Aug 11, 2026PJM Inside Lines reports that PJM is reviewing changes to interconnection reliability requirements for Large Loads after a July 22 event in Virginia in which “nearly 4,000 MW of data center load trip offline unexpectedly.” The article also says FERC ordered NERC to create enforceable Reliability Standards for computational loads and that the first phase of new enforcement provisions is due Dec. 31, 2026.
Backed by 1 primary filing — sign in or book a call to see all sources.
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Opening Statement of Commissioner Christie to House Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security
Source: FERCFERC Commissioner Christie warned that U.S. grid reliability faces “potentially catastrophic consequences” as “unprecedented forecasts for demand increases” from “data centers, including Artificial Intelligence (AI)” collide with fast-retiring dispatchable generation and policy pressure. In PJM, he said, “PJM faces unprecedented load growth due to the proliferation of data centers,” while also noting that EPA power-plant rules could “forcibly” accelerate coal retirements and make new gas generation “extremely difficult, if not virtually impossible” to build. Christie also said the PJM interconnection queue “largely consists of intermittent generation, primarily wind and solar,” and that legal challenges are delaying needed natural-gas pipeline infrastructure.
Backed by 1 primary filing — sign in or book a call to see all sources.
Recent Virginia data center news
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Valley Link Expands to Coal Country
The Piedmont Environmental Council is updating its advocacy on Virginia transmission lines tied to data center growth and a Virginia SCC ruling on who should pay for related grid costs.
- PEC says Valley Link plans to file the Joshua Falls-Yeat application with the Virginia SCC in November or December instead of September, and plans to file the Amos-Rocky Point (Valley North) line in 2027.
- The email also highlights the SCC ruling that large-load data centers should pay the up-front costs of transmission facilities built solely to serve them, while PEC calls for a statewide moratorium on new data centers, transmission lines, onsite gas facilities, backup generators, and new water withdrawals.
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Virginia Tops AI Data Center Readiness Ranking as Smaller Markets Advance
TRG DataCenters has published a new August 2026 survey ranking US states for AI data center growth readiness. - The report compares 24 states using infrastructure scale, environmental exposure, mapped AI site capacity, estimated emissions, and water-stress exposure; Virginia ranked first with a score of 100, followed by Ohio (88.2), Tennessee (83.7), Georgia (81.8), and Texas (80.8). - The analysis highlights that South Carolina ranked sixth with only one large AI site and 142 MW of capacity, while Texas had 13 sites and 1,301 MW but faced high water-stress exposure at 58.8% of mapped facilities; the piece also notes Mississippi exceeds 500 MW of AI capacity in the dataset.
- The article is a commentary/reporting piece based on TRG’s survey rather than a new project announcement; it emphasizes that grid connections, transmission, fiber, build-ready sites, and long-term power availability will shape where AI infrastructure is built.
- TRG says its dataset mapped 7 large AI sites in Virginia totaling 1,085 MW, 1,410 MW in Ohio, and 1,373 MW in Tennessee, with estimated annual CO2 emissions of about 2.3 million tons in Virginia versus 4.5 million tons in Ohio and 4.3 million tons in Tennessee.
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Giving Back Together: DataBank Employees Support Local Hunger Relief
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.
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Episode for October 9, 2026
The Allegheny Front published an episode and related links highlighting the rise in black lung disease in Appalachia and the political debate over climate and energy policy in Pennsylvania.
- The episode spotlights a report that one in three Appalachian coal miners surveyed by federal researchers are testing positive for black lung disease, described as the highest level since the late 1970s.
- The page also notes that Gov. Josh Shapiro and state Treasurer Stacy Garrity discussed data centers and other issues in the first and only 2026 gubernatorial debate, and that Shapiro joined 21 states suing the EPA over its repeal of limits on power-plant climate pollution.
- This is a media episode page and commentary roundup, not a first-person corporate announcement; it references recent news and linked articles rather than making a new standalone policy filing.
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Data Centers, Gas, and Who Pays: Power Association Leaders Find Common Ground
POWER magazine reports on a panel discussion at Experience POWER featuring leaders from USEA, NRECA, LPPC, and CEBA. The article is commentary on the panel and on a bipartisan Senate permitting bill introduced later the same day.
- The panelists said data centers need more infrastructure, that flexible load is hard to sell, and that security rules need one standard; Rich Powell said the industry must do more to prove community benefits, while Tom Falcone said some LPPC members may need to double or triple in size over 10 years.
- The article also says the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act would keep permits in place absent extraordinary circumstances, violations of law, or court order, and would require data centers to pay their transmission costs; BPC said the bill would bar cost-shifting for new data centers of 20 MW or more.
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Beyond the Demand Forecast: Six Questions About Powering Data Centers From DPX 2026
POWER magazine has published a conference-based analysis of DPX 2026, highlighting the main questions discussed about building power infrastructure for data centers and AI load growth.
- The article summarizes remarks from Peter Lake, Jehmal T. Hudson, Alexander Hubbard, Matthew Gardner, Nelli Babayan, and Jason Reagan rather than announcing a single new project.
- It includes concrete policy and market details such as Virginia’s GS-5 rate class effective Jan. 1, 2027, Berkeley Lab’s 192 TWh to 649 TWh U.S. data center electricity forecast, and GE Vernova’s planned turbine output ramp to 20 GW in Q4 2026, 24 GW by 2028, and 30 GW by 2030.
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Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows Agrivoltaics Project wins North American Solar Farm of the Year award
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.
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Climate Change Solutions - October 6, 2026
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.
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Getting It Right Together: The State Regulatory Lens on America’s Large-Load Future
Judge Jehmal T. Hudson argues for a more disciplined regulatory framework to manage large-load and data center growth, emphasizing system-level planning, financial commitments, and ratepayer protections.
- He says regulators should move from project-by-project reaction to system-level strategy, using better information on site control, permits, financing, timing, and load certainty before infrastructure is built.
- He cites Virginia as an example: the Virginia State Corporation Commission approved a new GS-5 rate class for Dominion Energy Virginia customers effective January 1, 2027, with demand thresholds of 25 MW or greater and stronger financial obligations, including 85% of contracted distribution and transmission demand and 60% of generation demand for certain customers; he also references mandatory contributions in aid of construction for some transmission facilities.
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Von Neumann’s party
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.