Balancing innovation, grid reliability and data center growth Image By Josh Thomas Over the past decade, Virginia has claimed the honor of being the “data center capital of the world.” While data centers bring undeniable economic benefits to local tax bases, new information confirms that the cost to our land and energy grid will be steep over the coming years. For Virginia to remain the best place to live, work, learn and raise a family, we have to place sensible guardrails on the data center industry. The recent Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) report Data Centers in Virginia concluded our prospects of meeting the data center industry’s energy needs are bleak. ‘Difficult to achieve’ One hyperscale data center campus proposed for my district, the Prince William Digital Gateway, is projected to use a staggering 1,000 MW of power – equivalent to the entire output of the Lake Anna nuclear power plant, or over 525,000 homes. Incredibly, data centers consume over one-fourth of Virginia’s energy consumption each year, and that number is only going up. JLARC projects that unconstrained data center growth will increase Virginia’s energy needs by a whopping 183% by 2040. To meet that kind of massive energy demand, we would have to build a brand new large natural gas plant every 18 months while scaling up our wind, solar, and nuclear output to unprecedented and unsustainable levels. When JLARC attempted to chart multiple courses for Virginia to meet data center energy demand, it labeled those options as either “difficult to achieve,” or “very difficult to achieve.” Protecting ratepayers All this energy demand and construction has another impact much closer to home: it raises our utility bills across the Commonwealth. By 2040, energy generation and transmission costs could climb to $18 billion. While JLARC claims that data center companies are currently covering their own energy costs, the report could not confirm whether that would remain the same in the future. The study projected that all ratepayers will soon have to bear the burden of this staggering increase in generation and transmission infrastructure, not just the data center industry. By 2040, the average household could face a $37 increase in their energy bills due to data center growth. Working families can’t afford to shoulder the bill for a billion-dollar industry, and they shouldn’t have to. The path forward Unconstrained data center growth is a threat to our energy future, but I believe that there is a way forward that balances innovation with grid reliability. This legislative session, I proposed a bill that directly tackles the energy load issues: HB2027. This bill would require the State Corporation Commission to step in and evaluate a data center applicant’s energy needs and effect on the electrical grid before they begin operation. Because the state government is responsible for the management of a state resource like energy, it is time for the state to step in and regulate the added load on our grid. As our current energy regulator, the SCC is best equipped to accomplish this mission, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to protect Virginia ratepayers and our natural resources. Josh Thomas, a Marine Corps veteran and attorney, is a Democratic delegate representing the 21st District in the Virginia House of Delegates. *The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of EnergyPlatform.News.
