HERNDON — The man who helped make Loudoun County the data center capital of the world wants Virginia lawmakers to find a way to keep the state's word with a powerful industry that he said has come under public scrutiny like never before.
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Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, speaks on the floor of the Senate in the Virginia Capitol on March 10. "We've talked about a lot of compromises," he said on Wednesday about the state budget standoff over whether to repeal a 16-year-old sales tax exemption for data centers. "The bottom line is that the chair's position I don't think has changed a bit."
Not to be missed: DATA CENTERS IN VIRGINIA | TIMES-DISPATCH SPECIAL REPORT
Read the stories from the Richmond Times-Dispatch's three-day series on data centers and the key issues they pose.
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.
