Virginia Data Center Intel

Recent Virginia data center news

• Mar 11, 2026

  Environmental groups protest sale of county land for a data center

  Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is holding a March 17 hearing on the planned sale of 41.7 acres at 3721 Stonecroft Blvd in Chantilly to Starwood Capital Group for $166.8 million.

  • Main announcement/action: The Board of Supervisors is considering the sale of 41.7 acres (part of a 128-acre county property) to Starwood Capital Group for $166.8 million; the county entered a June 2025 LOI committing to sell at $4 million per acre and signed a confidentiality agreement that limited public disclosure. The sale is described by the county as contingent on relocating and rebuilding police training facilities and proceeds are to fund a new Criminal Justice Academy and updated training areas.
  • Background and details: Environmental groups (Sierra Club Great Falls Group, Nature Forward, Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Friends of Holmes Run) have requested that the county publish agreements with Starwood, explain how the proposal originated, and answer detailed questions on air pollution, timing, tax schedule, square footage, supporting infrastructure (distribution/transmission/substation/water/fiber), backup power (diesel vs. battery), and impacts on county emissions and land values. The article reports a VCU study finding Northern Virginia data centers and their diesel generators emit more air pollutants than natural gas power plants.
• Mar 11, 2026

  General Assembly Budget Conferees Need to Invest in Quality of Life, Not Big Tech

  The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) has called on Virginia lawmakers to eliminate or substantially limit the sales tax credit on data center equipment to redirect revenue to public services.

  • Main action: PEC submitted a letter to General Assembly leadership and budget conferees requesting elimination or phased reduction of the sales tax exemption on data center equipment, arguing the exemption cost more than $1.9 billion in FY2025 and could have raised state revenue from $31.2 billion to $33.1 billion if collected. The letter identifies priorities for redirected revenue: water supply and wastewater treatment, transportation and transit, schools, childcare, and food security.
  • Background and details: PEC cites Dominion Energy data that it is receiving requests for ~10 additional data center applications monthly totaling 2–3 GW, bringing cumulative demand to 70 GW, while current peak demand is 24 GW with >36% electricity imports. PEC estimates Dominion will need to invest over $100 billion in generation, transmission and substation infrastructure (including nearly $30 billion for transmission) to meet the backlog over the next ten years.
• Mar 11, 2026

  Climate Change Solutions - March 10, 2026

  EESI will host a briefing on energy efficiency with the Alliance to Save Energy on March 12 to highlight cost-effective measures for households and small businesses.

  • Main announcement: EESI and the Alliance to Save Energy will hold a briefing Strategies to Lower Utility Bills Now for Households and Small Businesses on Thursday, March 12, 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., in the Rayburn House Office Building, Gold Room (Room 2168) and online (RSVP link available). The event focuses on energy efficiency solutions for households and small businesses and invites expert panelists to discuss readily-available measures.
  • Background and other details: EESI published a Climate Jobs fact sheet citing >4 million climate jobs in 2024 and a 2.8% growth rate in clean energy jobs; it also promoted the 29th annual Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO on June 24 (Rayburn Foyer and Gold Room, 10:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m., online option). The newsletter summarizes recent congressional activity on bills including S.2245 (Digital Coast Act extension), H.R.755 (Critical Mineral Consistency Act of 2025), H.R.390 (ACERO Act), and H.R.2600 (ASCEND Act), and notes hearings that focused on the electric grid and data centers.
• Mar 10, 2026

  Letter to the General Assembly: Data Centers Need to Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes

  The Piedmont Environmental Council supports efforts to eliminate or substantially limit the sales tax credit on data center equipment in Virginia.

  • Main announcement/action: The Piedmont Environmental Council urges the General Assembly and budget conferees to eliminate or substantially limit the sales tax exemption on data center equipment in order to free up revenue; the letter states the Senate proposal would generate over $1B over the biennium and cites the exemption reached $1.9 billion in FY 2025 (from a few million in 2008).
  • Background and concrete details: The letter documents that Virginia is home to over 500 data centers, that Dominion Energy reports 1-2 GW of new data center requests each month and a current estimate of 70 GW demand, and asserts Dominion will need to invest over $100 billion in generation, transmission and substation infrastructure to meet backlog demand over the next ten years.
• Mar 10, 2026

  Environmental groups seek more details of plan to sell Chantilly land for data center

  Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has set a March 17 public hearing to consider selling the southern one-third (about 41.7 acres) of the 128-acre Stonecroft property at 3721 Stonecroft Blvd to Starwood Capital Group, which made an unsolicited $166.8 million offer.

  • Main announcement/details: The Board will consider a sale of 41.7 acres (the southernmost one-third of the 128-acre campus) to Starwood Capital Group (SGC Global Holdings LLC) for an unsolicited $166.8 million offer; county officials say proceeds will defray costs for a modern police training facility and that the sale would add the 41.7 acres to the county tax base with anticipated tax revenue in excess of $20 million in the first year after completion. The public hearing is scheduled for March 17.
  • Background and related facts: A coalition of environmental groups (Sierra Club Great Falls Group, Nature Forward, Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Friends of Holmes Run) sent a March 4 letter requesting details on any agreements, terms, origin of the proposal, alternative uses, public-benefit considerations, health/air-quality impacts, carbon emissions, and backup power plans (battery vs diesel). A separate proposal to swap the Stonecroft parcel for Plaza 500 (6295 Edsall Road) was suggested by civic leaders but Fairfax Board Chairman Jeff McKay responded on March 2 calling the idea “creative” but not something that we can pursue; Plaza 500 is owned by SCG/related parties and is being targeted for a data center in Lincolnia.
• Mar 9, 2026

  West Virginia Secures $4 Billion Artificial Intelligence Data Center Investment

  Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced that West Virginia secured a $4 billion private-sector investment from Penzance Management to develop the state’s first designated High Impact Intelligence Center.

  • $4 billion investment by Penzance Management to develop the Bedington Campus on 548 acres in Berkeley County’s Falling Waters District; project expected to reach ~1.9 million square feet and deliver 600 megawatts of IT capacity at full buildout; no state funding was used.
  • Enabled by recent state laws (Power Generation and Consumption Act, House Bill 2002) to accelerate permitting and support on-site power generation and microgrids; project qualified for High Impact Intelligence Center status after exceeding a 90-megawatt projected load and completing engineering, environmental and utility coordination. County is evaluating reclaimed water use; administration reports $10.5 billion in private-sector investment secured since October.
• Mar 9, 2026

  Data center water spikes could cost billions

  A UC Riverside research team led by Shaolei Ren has announced that community waterworks across the U.S. will need billions of dollars in new infrastructure to meet projected peak water demands from data centers.

  • Main finding: The study quantifies that, within four years, data center cooling peak demands could require 697 million to 1.45 billion gallons per day of additional peak water capacity, and the estimated cost of required water infrastructure is $10 billion to $58 billion, depending on data center growth rates. The report calls for reporting peak water use (not just annual averages) and recommends developers add or fund water capacity or efficiency improvements to offset their own use.
  • Background and specifics: The paper notes that on very hot days single data centers can withdraw >1 million gallons/day, with some planned allocations up to 8 million gallons/day. In February 2026, three major technology companies secured multi-million gallons/day water allocations for projects in Virginia, Louisiana, and Indiana, with combined related infrastructure costs approaching $1 billion. The study stresses limits from snowpack and reservoirs and cites the EPA estimate of trillions of dollars needed for national water/wastewater upgrades over the next two decades.
• Mar 6, 2026

  Responsibility and fear motivate a young climate organizer

  Avery Henderson Thomas, a senior at Woodland Hills High School, is an organizer of the upcoming Pittsburgh Youth for Climate Action Summit hosted by Communitopia.

  • Main announcement: Avery is organizing the Pittsburgh Youth for Climate Action Summit with Communitopia; summit programming will cover data centers and AI, sustainable fashion (including a clothing swap), and participants in Avery’s group will create climate action plans intended to be presented to lawmakers and policymakers.
  • Background and structure: Avery has served as a leader in the summit since sophomore year, is from Braddock, has trained as a volunteer firefighter and EMT, plans to attend the College of Virginia Military Institute and join the Navy; the summit organizes youth into cohorts across different school districts to share perspectives and develop actionable plans.
• Mar 6, 2026

  AI Infrastructure Brief: Power, Capital, and Silicon Collide in the Next Phase of the Data Center Buildout

  Data Center Frontier summarizes multiple AI infrastructure announcements and projects scaling to gigawatts across North America.

  • Main announcement/action: The article reports an industry-wide acceleration of hyperscale AI data center development, including CoreWeave’s plan to add roughly 5 GW of capacity by 2030, xAI’s $659 million permit filing for Memphis “Colossus,” Nebius’s $150.6 billion Chapter 100 bond approval, and a $2.4 billion B&W/Base Electron design-build agreement to deliver 1.2 GW of natural-gas generation to supply Applied Digital AI campuses; it also cites La Caisse’s C$240 million commitment to Cologix’s MTL8 and Google’s $40 billion investment pipeline in Texas through 2027.
  • Context and additional details: The report documents wider trends: institutional capital flows (Blackstone exploring a public data-center vehicle; HighBrook targeting 300 MW), growth in dedicated/behind-the-meter generation (the “power island” trend), and rising political and community scrutiny (Birmingham 180-day moratorium, Oregon HB 4084 proposal, project withdrawals/controversies in Apex NC and West Louisville).
• Mar 6, 2026

  Building the Foundations of AI Cities: Lessons in Infrastructure, Energy, and Efficiency

  The author argues that cities and governments must redesign infrastructure to prioritize clean power and coordinated public-private partnerships to enable AI-ready data center development.

  • Main announcement/action: The piece calls for rede signing the infrastructure blueprint so that site selection is driven by abundant clean power and public-private coordination rather than the legacy sequence of choosing land then securing power; it highlights geographic diversification and hybrid power mixes (solar, wind, hydro, battery storage) as required technical responses and notes operators are currently using behind-the-meter generation to bypass multi-year utility connection delays in legacy markets like Northern Virginia.
  • Background and implementation details: The article cites Rio de Janeiro / Brazil as an example of a regional approach that links data center development to a planned clean energy transition and economic growth, and references Brazil’s ReData program as a tax incentive designed to reduce barriers to entry; it also references industry analysis from Deloitte, CSIS, DataCenterKnowledge, and McKinsey & Company as supporting sources.