Data Centers
What is a data center?
The internet! They are basically big buildings filled with computer chips. Anything stored in “the cloud” is in a data center.
Data center pros:
We love, and need, the internet. And the tax revenue is great. Data centers have helped keep our property taxes low and help pay for all the schools, roads, etc., needed for Loudoun’s housing growth as well as other services. They don’t generate much traffic or put kids in schools. Data centers create good jobs, union and tech, but most of the jobs are during initial construction.
Data center cons:
Incredible need for energy. As the chips got smaller and faster, each square foot of data center needs much more electricity, the technology keeps advancing, so: transmission lines! We pay for the new lines with utility bills projected to nearly double by 2035 and these lines have devastating effects on homes, businesses and parks.
For Eastern Loudoun data centers make poor neighbors, removing open green spaces, and making Eastern Loudoun a lattice of transmission wires. Data centers have hundreds of diesel power generators that need to be run every month. Data centers have been continually under construction for the past 14 yrs, with blasting and endless construction vehicles. All data centers need substations, too. Data centers outside of Eastern Loudoun’s reclaimed water system use tens of thousands, to hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per day to cool the servers.
A growing number of data centers are seeking their own on-site generation, often gas-fired, which raises local air-quality and pollution concerns.
Why Loudoun County?
Northern Virginia has the most data centers of anywhere in the world, three times more than all of China. We have 181 data centers here in Loudoun. They are estimated to host 65% of the worlds internet traffic, and there are many more datacenters in neighboring counties. Both Loudoun County and the state give them advantages such tax breaks and favorable zoning. When Loudoun County changed its zoning in 2008 to encourage data centers the data centers were smaller and used much less electricity per square foot then the ones being built today. Loudoun County also had a strong power grid, is close to Washington DC and has existing fiber optic networks and an available workforce.
Just how much power for Loudoun County are we talking about?
LOTS
- 2018 1Gw for 13.1 million sq. ft. of data center floor space
- 2021 2 Gw for 26.4 million sq. ft.
- 2023 3.4 Gw for 31.9 million sq. ft (size of 170 super Walmarts)
- Projected for 2028 8.3 Gw power need
The Lake Anna Nuclear Power Plant generates 1.79 Gw
The lines working their way through the approval system are already needed. More will be coming.
Substation in Sterling
