The rush of data centers seeking to connect to Virginia's power grid accelerated in the final weeks of 2025, while the Trump administration's freeze on offshore wind boosted the costs of Dominion Energy's wind farm, 25 miles east of the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, the company said Monday.
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A wind turbine owned and operated by Dominion Energy is photographed 27 miles off of Virginia Beach in the Atlantic Ocean in 2023.Â
Richmond Times-Dispatch special report: Data centers in Virginia
Before data centers became a central topic of Virginia's budget debate, the Richmond Times-Dispatch last year took a deep dive into the topic, resulting in a three-day series on data centers and the key issues they pose. Read it all below.
Proponents say data centers bring localities enormous revenues and opportunities. Opponents raise concerns about their big demands for power and compatibility with neighborhoods.
Data center developers are now eyeing the Richmond area. While counties welcome the sites' tax revenues, residents' concerns have prompted developers to withdraw some proposals and Henrico imposed further oversight.
These buildings that house key IT infrastructure are big, expensive and need a lot of energy but promise big revenues for localities.
The state's telecommunications infrastructure, tax breaks, workforce and officials' welcoming attitude have helped make Virginia the world's data center capital.
The 451 now running in Virginia, home to the largest concentration of data centers in the world, currently use 3,583 megawatts, or enough electricity to power nearly 896,000 homes.
Virginia’s data center boom means new terms to understand. Here are some key words and phrases.
The state's data center boom is the subtext to increasingly intense politicking over longtime Virginia issues — climate change, electricity rates and the powers of local governments.
President Donald Trump has issued a series of executive orders removing barriers to expanding the electric grid's ability to serve data centers necessary to advance artificial intelligence and other power-hungry technologies.
