Virginia Data Center Intel

Recent Virginia data center news

• Jun 10, 2026

  A Day of Celebrating Conservation: PEC’s 2026 Annual Gathering

  Piedmont Environmental Council announced that 760 of Longwood Farm’s 774 acres are now permanently protected as of June 1, 2026.

  • 760 acres protected: As of June 1, 2026, 760 acres of Longwood Farm’s 774 total acres are now permanently protected; the property is managed by Cedar Run Conservation, LLC and includes a mitigation project that will return Cedar Run to its floodplain to improve habitat and water quality in Fauquier County.
  • Context and related actions: PEC reports nearly 21,000 acres conserved in the Cedar Run watershed and nearly 680,000 acres have been conserved in PEC’s nine-county region; the Annual Gathering included workshops on data center energy infrastructure impacts (Virginia consumes over a quarter of the state’s electricity, demand projected to double by 2045), historic districts, land succession, and referenced federal tools (NEPA and NHPA) highlighted by keynote speaker Marion Werkheiser.
• Jun 10, 2026

  New York Confronts the Data Center Boom: Balancing Growth and Grid Reform

  Democratic legislators introduced a bill for a three-year moratorium on new large data centers, and Governor Kathy Hochul directed the New York State Public Service Commission to open a regulatory proceeding to reform large-load interconnections.

  • Three-year moratorium introduced by Democratic legislators: The bill would freeze state and local approvals for any new data center exceeding 20 MW for three years, require the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to conduct a comprehensive environmental review and issue regulations, and direct the state utility regulator to adopt rules preventing residential ratepayers from shouldering energy cost increases attributable to data centers.
  • Governor Hochul directed PSC to institute a proceeding under “Energize NY Development”: The PSC issued an Order Instituting Proceeding and Soliciting Comments (Case 26-E-0045) noting 11.9 GW of pending large-load projects in the NYISO queue (more than 8.3 GW entered in 2025); the Order lists six core objectives and sets initial comments due May 13, 2026 and reply comments due June 15, 2026, with a technical conference by Dec 31, 2026 and a white paper due Feb 12, 2027.
• Jun 10, 2026

  Demand-response programs can lower utility bills, but beware of on-site power restrictions, experts say

  Virginia lawmakers enacted a law directing Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power to create demand-response programs for large energy customers and to expand utility procurement of energy storage.

  • Main action: The law requires utilities Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power to offer demand-response programs for customers with an electric load of 25 megawatts or more, and directs utilities to procure more than 21,000 megawatts of power from facilities’ energy storage systems by 2045; the Virginia State Corporation Commission will work with an independent auditor to develop procurement criteria and review requests.
  • Background and constraints: The article explains federal EPA limits (100-hour annual use for non-emergency generator operation with a 50-hour cap for non-testing/maintenance) and an EPA interpretive letter that prevents generators in RTO/ISO territories (e.g., PJM Interconnection) from using generators for demand response under the 50-hour cap; retrofitting to Tier 4 emissions can cost $100,000 to $500,000 or more per engine, and EPA enforcement can impose penalties in the hundreds of thousands of dollars; the piece also notes a lawsuit threat from the Southern Environmental Law Center against xAI for on-site generator emissions (three dozen natural gas generators, capacity 421 MW, potential >2,000 tons NOx/year).
• Jun 10, 2026

  Time’s Up: The Costs of Data Center Tax Break in Virginia Far Outweigh the Benefits

  Piedmont Environmental Council is urging the Virginia General Assembly to end the $1.9 billion annual sales tax exemption for data center equipment and to pause new data center approvals.

  • Main action: PEC calls for a legislative pause on new data center approvals, an end to the $1.9 billion annual sales tax exemption for data center equipment, and adoption of guardrails from SB619 and ratepayer protections from SB339; Legislators return June 18 to finalize the budget ahead of a June 30 deadline.
  • Background/details: Virginia utilities (notably Dominion Energy) have agreed to 51 gigawatts (GW) of contracted power — more than triple the current ~25 GW peak demand — creating needs for hundreds of substations, thousands of miles of transmission, and multiple new power plants (Chesterfield ~1 GW, Tenaska ~1.5 GW, Cumberland ~3 GW); PEC also highlights public health concerns from onsite gas turbines and >10,500 permitted backup generators in the state.
• Jun 10, 2026

  The General Assembly Must Prioritize People Over Data Centers

  Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) is calling on Virginia legislators to pause new data center approvals and end the sales tax exemption during the June budget negotiations.

  • Main action: PEC urges the General Assembly and Governor Spanberger to end the annual sales tax exemption for data centers and pause approvals of new data center projects so the state can plan for 51 GW of approved data center demand; legislators reconvene June 18, with a June 30 budget deadline.
  • Background and details: The email cites Dominion Energy’s agreement to supply 51 gigawatts, notes the tax break grew from $1.6 million in 2008 to nearly $2 billion today (~6% of Virginia’s annual revenue), references ~10 GW of operational IT load in Virginia, and points to recent pauses of tax credits in Ohio and Illinois as precedent.
• Jun 8, 2026

  The AI Demand Dilemma: Utilities Confront Speculative Growth

  Utilities across the US are rewriting tariffs, demanding financial guarantees, and altering transmission and procurement plans to avoid building infrastructure for speculative AI-related data center load requests.

  • Main action: Utilities (notably AEP and Duke Energy) are tightening large-load rules and requiring financial commitments to move projects forward: AEP winnowed more than 30 GW of preliminary requests to ~13 GW for formal studies and 5.6 GW with signed Electric Service Agreements; AEP proposed requiring customers to commit to paying for 90% of requested capacity for a decade before the utility builds supporting infrastructure. These measures include specialized large-load tariffs, collateral/minimum-usage guarantees, and phased energization schedules to limit ratepayer exposure.
  • Background and implementation details: Regulators and reliability bodies (NERC, ERCOT, FERC) are developing new categories and study frameworks (e.g., Computational Load Entity, batch study processes) and reliability guidance. Utilities are expanding financing and procurement: Duke extended a $10 billion master credit facility through 2031 and raised its five-year capital plan to $103 billion; AEP raised its five-year capital plan to $78 billion. Industry forecasts and planning estimates include Wood Mackenzie projecting the US data center electrical equipment market could grow to $65 billion by 2030, and Grid Strategies/ACEG estimating roughly 5,000 miles of new high-capacity transmission annually through 2035 (fewer than 1,000 miles built in 2024).
• Jun 8, 2026

  Data center news: Detroit takes responsible approach to data centers, Benson says

  Detroit City Councilmember Scott Benson announced the council-approved moratorium resolution to build a stronger regulatory framework for data center development in Detroit.

  • Main announcement: The council-approved moratorium resolution created a stakeholder group (labor, business, sustainability advocates) to draft a zoning ordinance by end of 2026; Benson emphasized no increase in utility bills for residents and community-driven local control for development.
  • Additional details/background:GOP state Sen. Jim Runestad introduced bills for a one-year statewide moratorium (may not receive a committee hearing); Erin Brockovich launched a national interactive tracking map for operational/under-construction/proposed facilities; Google granted $250,000 to the Huron River Watershed Council while planning a 1.5-million-square-foot Michigan data center that will draw 2–3.65 million gallons daily from the Great Lakes Water Authority.
• Jun 8, 2026

  Op-Ed: The Budget Provides a Chance for Real Data Center Reform

  PEC President Chris Miller (op-ed) calls on the Virginia General Assembly to eliminate the data center sales tax exemption, adopt SB619 and SB339, and pause new data center development pending cumulative-impact reviews.

  • Main action: The op-ed urges the General Assembly to remove the data center sales tax exemption (~$2 billion per year), adopt SB619 and SB339 into the budget to require State Corporation Commission (SCC) review of large-load applications and investigate rate structure subsidies, and to pause data center development until cumulative analyses and public comment are completed.
  • Background and details: The piece notes Dominion Energy has signed contracts for 51 GW with an additional 19 GW requested (70 GW total), argues most new generation/transmission won’t be available for a decade or more, and highlights concerns about hundreds of substations, thousands of miles of transmission lines, and dozens of power plants needed to serve these contracts. This is an op-ed calling for policy change rather than an official government announcement.
• Jun 5, 2026

  Google signs 100MW distributed energy resource VPP agreement with Voltus for PJM

  Voltus and Google announced a three-year agreement to aggregate up to 100MW of distributed energy resources (DERs) each year into a Google-funded virtual power plant (VPP) in the PJM region.

  • Main announcement: Voltus will aggregate up to 100MW of DERs each year from local businesses and homes into a Google-funded VPP in PJM under a three-year agreement; Voltus will pay participating customers, described as “turning Google’s capacity demand into real economic benefits for PJM customers.”
  • Background and related details:PJM covers parts of 13 US states and the District of Columbia and contains Virginia’s “Data Centre Alley”; the article references an ESC study projecting +16GW by 2028 and +30GW by 2032 of summer peak growth, and notes other Google-related projects including a DTE agreement (1,600MW solar + 450MW storage) and Xcel/Form Energy 30GWh iron-air deployment at a Google site; it also cites Lightshift Energy deploying distribution-scale batteries in Virginia as an alternative approach.
• Jun 4, 2026

  Replacing Diesel in AI-Scale Data Centers: Gas Engines, Turbines, and Steam

  This article analyzes a sector-wide shift: data center operators are moving from diesel backup toward natural gas reciprocating engines, gas turbines, and packaged-boiler-fed steam turbines.

  • Main action: Data centers and AI campuses are substituting diesel with on-site natural gas engines and turbines (and, where gas-turbine lead times are long, packaged boilers feeding steam turbines). Key, verifiable project details: 15 Wärtsilä Energy 18V50SG engines to supply nearly 300 MW at an Ohio project; Caterpillar received a 2 GW order from American Intelligence & Power Corp. for the Monarch Compute Campus (West Virginia) using Cat G3516 fast-response gas generator sets, with the 2,250-acre site potentially adding up to 6 GW more; mobile turbine units (e.g., Dynamis trailer-mounted 8–70 MW units; DT24 = 24 MW at 13.8 kV) and Certarus CNG logistics are being used as interim solutions, with Certarus supplying over 120 MW now and an additional 135 MW project slated to start in 2027.
  • Background and implementation details:Gas-turbine lead times have lengthened (reports of delivery pushed to the end of the decade for some large models), prompting use of mobile turbines and packaged boilers; Rentech notes packaged boiler lead times of ~1 year and states packaged boilers can feed steam turbines at efficiencies comparable to gas turbines during peak hours. The Oracle/OpenAI Stargate Abilene project uses a mix of GE Vernova LM2500XPRESS and Solar Turbines Titan 350 units and could consume as much as 1.2 GW. Analyst Shen Wang (Omdia) projects ~60 GW of new AI data center power capacity per year by 2030. The article is an analytical sector overview rather than a single-entity press announcement.