Virginia Data Center Intel

Recent Virginia data center news

• Dec 22, 2025 · RMI

  Reality Check: How to Grow the Grid, but Not Electricity Costs

  RMI’s Mark Dyson outlines three New Year’s resolutions for US utilities and policymakers to expand the power grid while keeping electricity affordable.

  • Resolution 1 urges embracing new technologies such as gas turbines, wind, solar, batteries, advanced geothermal, and potentially fusion, alongside energy efficiency as a major, low-cost resource, drawing on US leadership in geothermal and international examples from Germany, Australia, and China for further cost reductions in clean energy.
  • Resolution 2 and 3 call for faster project build-out by cutting interconnection and permitting delays (with examples from Texas and Virginia) and for better use of existing grid assets via virtual power plants, coordinated flexible demand (e.g., 100,000+ home batteries in California), and grid-enhancing technologies like sensors and controls demonstrated in New York, combined with modern regulatory incentives and policy toolkits to align utilities with affordability outcomes.
• Dec 22, 2025

  Top 5 Data Center Industry Trends and Predictions for 2026

  Melissa Reali (Data Center Frontier) assesses top data center, AI and digital infrastructure trends for 2025 and issues predictions for what will determine winners in 2026.

  • Main assessment: The piece argues that data centers must secure power independence, policy alignment, connectivity, supply certainty, and sophisticated capital stacks to deliver AI-scale capacity. It highlights concrete metrics and commitments including ~30% of sites using onsite power by 2030 (Bloom Energy citation), >650 billion dollars in announced AI/data center capex across ~150 projects, and ~170 billion dollars of PE-owned assets in development or repositioning. It also notes state-level incentives (e.g., Texas committing over a billion dollars in data center subsidies in a single year) and that 15 U.S. states tie incentives to job or environmental metrics.
  • Background and details: The article documents measurable supply-chain and grid constraints—multi-year transformer and switchgear lead times, lengthening interconnection queues, and modular on-site generation deployments (gas turbines, fuel cells, batteries) as transitional solutions. It describes policy shifts: federal directives to streamline permitting and extend financial tools, encouragement to reuse federal lands/brownfields, and the rise of sovereign AI zones in countries including the UK, India, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia.
• Dec 19, 2025

  Episode for December 19, 2025

  The Allegheny Front published an episode “Bears!” highlighting regional environmental, wildlife, and infrastructure developments on Dec 19, 2025.

  • Main episode coverage: The program reports that Springdale borough council granted a conditional use permit for a massive data center to be built on the site of a former coal-fired power plant in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; Pennsylvania has joined a lawsuit seeking release of federal EV charger funds held by the White House; the US EPA held a public hearing in Pittsburgh on a proposed Clean Water Act rule change that would remove federal protections for about 80 percent of wetlands; the episode notes Three Mile Island as central to the Trump administration’s push linking nuclear projects to AI power needs.
  • Background and supporting details: The episode features a story on Sherrie Flick and her short story collection “I Have Not Considered Consequences” (bears as recurring characters), a report with Pennsylvania’s bear biologist tracking roughly 16,000 black bears, and is distributed via Libsyn, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and TuneIn on Dec 19, 2025.
• Dec 19, 2025

  Broadband Industry Likes New Non-Deployment Bill

  Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W. Va.) introduced the SUCCESS for BEAD Act to ensure states use their full BEAD allocations and to allow specified “non-deployment” infrastructure and workforce uses tied to AI.

  • Main action: The bill would allow states to spend remaining BEAD allocations on wholesale fiber lines, mobile wireless infrastructure, submarine cables and landing stations, workforce development, mapping, and permitting reform, while explicitly excluding data centers as eligible uses. The Commerce Department estimates about $21 billion of the $42.45 billion BEAD program is currently unallocated for deployment; states would be required to hold another round of bidding for wholesale or backbone projects.
  • Background and additional details: The Trump administration rescinded approval for non-deployment activities in June and the President issued an executive order directing NTIA to produce a policy notice making states ineligible for non-deployment funds if they have “onerous” AI laws; NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth said the agency was still “operating under the assumption” states could use full allocations. The bill does not permit spending on adoption, affordability, or device/plan subsidies; the administration also canceled $2.75 billion in Digital Equity Act funding. Supporters include Fiber Broadband Association, INCOMPAS, WIA, USTelecom, Connected Nation, Competitive Carriers Association.
• Dec 19, 2025

  Golden to Mars Transmission Line Hearing Delayed, Comment Period Extended After Nearly 600 Sign Up to Testify

  The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) is urging Virginia residents to submit comments to the State Corporation Commission (SCC) on Dominion Energy’s proposed 500kV “Golden to Mars” transmission line serving Data Center Alley in eastern Loudoun County.

  • PEC testimony and community response: PEC, as an official intervenor, has testified for mitigation measures including undergrounding sections of the 500kV line, alternative designs that meet height restrictions and allow routing closer to the airport, and assigning incremental mitigation costs to high‑load data center customers rather than all ratepayers; more than 1,000 written comments and nearly 600 witnesses registered to testify at SCC hearings through December 19, with the written comment deadline extended to December 30 ahead of an SCC decision expected in January.
  • Precedent and rate structure concerns: PEC argues this is a precedent‑setting case because data center power demand is unprecedented and large‑voltage lines are being routed through dense suburban neighborhoods, warning that unrestricted data center development without state oversight will require more such lines statewide and that, under the current rate structure, all residential and small‑business ratepayers subsidize expensive transmission infrastructure for future data centers not yet in operation.
• Dec 18, 2025

  AI Is Draining the Grid—and the Power Solution Is Sitting Idle Right Next Door

  Daniel Domingues (founder and CEO of Planno) calls for deploying commercial and industrial rooftop solar and battery storage near data centers to meet AI-driven electricity demand while avoiding long transmission build timelines.

  • Main announcement/action: Advocate to prioritize C&I rooftop solar + storage adjacent to data center clusters to supply local load quickly; cites IEA projection of data center electricity reaching ~1,000 TWh by 2030, U.S. interconnection queues holding >2,000 GW, and transmission projects taking ~10 years (with permitting >50% of that timeline). Notes New Jersey Planno data: 13.5 GW total C&I rooftop potential, 7% adoption, leaving ~10.7 GW untapped; systems <2 MW can use streamlined permitting/interconnection and be built in months.
  • Background and details: Draws on NREL national assessment and a Deloitte study (82% and 92% statistics on innovation/investment focus), highlights benefits of proximity, speed, and private financing (PPAs/leases) for C&I solar; recommends pairing with batteries/microgrids to meet peaks and provide localized resilience.
• Dec 18, 2025

  From the Dean’s Desk: Hyperscale Data Centers: A Canary in the Coal Mine

  The article by Genave King Rogers Dean Akhilesh Bajaj outlines governance recommendations for how cities and states should negotiate with hyperscale data center operators to ensure fair, transparent and community-beneficial AI infrastructure development.

  • Key recommendations include: independent impact analyses (grid, water, land use, environmental justice), early community engagement (including tribal nations), co-ownership of upside via AI dividends and CBAs, cost-reflective tariffs and demand-response participation, conditional tax incentives tied to ISO 50001/14001 and reporting, and reinvesting hyperscaler tax revenues into public-interest AI and workforce pipelines.
  • Context and background: using Virginia’s ~13% share of global data center capacity as an example, the article notes pressures on electricity demand (40–100% projected growth), water use (billions of gallons possible with evaporative cooling), land and neighborhood impacts, and frames hyperscalers (Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Meta, Tesla, OpenAI) as an early test of whether AI-driven economic gains become concentrated corporate power or support a broader social contract.
• Dec 18, 2025

  Wicker, Capito Introduce Bill to Ensure Use of Non-Deployment Funds

  Sen. Roger Wicker and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito introduced legislation requiring states to use non-deployment funding from the Commerce Department’s BEAD program.

  • Main action: The SUCCESS for BEAD Act would require states to “use all remaining amounts” from the $42.45 billion Commerce Department BEAD program, directing leftover non-deployment funds (about $21 billion expected to remain under updated rules) into a competitive subgrant program for eligible projects; the bill explicitly prohibits data center construction and lists allowed uses such as telecom workforce development, wholesale fiber, internet exchange points, and mobile wireless infrastructure.
  • Implementation & background: The bill gives NTIA 30 days after enactment to provide guidance; states with workforce development boards may award funds without bidding; the NTIA earlier rescinded approval for non-deployment activities in June, and a Presidential executive order directs NTIA to issue a policy notice within 90 days to potentially withhold funds from states deemed to have “onerous” AI laws.
• Dec 18, 2025

  Climate Change Solutions - December 16, 2025

  The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) issues a Climate Change Solutions newsletter summarizing recent climate, energy, and environmental policy developments, briefings, and media coverage in the United States.

  • Newsletter content highlights articles on FEMA reform (FEMA Act, H.R.4669), ghost fishing gear in Hawaiʻi, and global green building standards (LEED, BREEAM), plus an EESI briefing on how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21) changed 12 clean energy and efficiency tax incentives and how companies and consumers are adjusting.
  • Capitol Hill updates cover House passage or advancement of the Electric Supply Chain Act (H.R.3638), ePermit Act (H.R.4503), ESTUARIES Act (H.R.3962 / S.2063), and multiple PFAS bills (H.R.6668 / S.3457, H.R.6626 / S.3460, H.R.6667, S.3445, S.3446), as well as links to EESI legislative trackers, grid and industrial decarbonization briefings, and external media citations of EESI work on data centers, water use, and EERE investments.
• Dec 18, 2025

  Culpeper Update: Moving the Needle

  The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) reports recent wins and ongoing challenges in Culpeper County around solar policy, data center zoning, and citizen advocacy opportunities during Virginia’s 2026 legislative session.

  • Solar & net metering: Culpeper County earned a Silver SolSmart designation in April 2025 and became one of the first Virginia counties to use SolarAPP+ for faster rooftop solar permits, while PEC urges residents to submit comments to the Virginia SCC by Jan. 13, 2026 opposing Dominion Energy’s petition (PUR-2025-00079) to halve net-metering credits and to testify at the Jan. 20 evidentiary hearing.
  • Data centers & advocacy days: Following PEC-backed pressure, the Culpeper Board of Supervisors removed data centers as by-right uses and the Town Council created a Data Center Overlay limiting new facilities to already-approved parcels, while PEC and the Data Center Reform Coalition will host a Data Center Reform Lobby Day in Richmond on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, complemented by VCN’s Conservation Lobby Day on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, with buses/carpools offered for Northern Virginia participants.