Highlights/Video: Major New Report on Data Centers in Virginia Finds Economic Benefits, Also Major Challenges, Particularly on Energy Supply

See below for highlights from the brand-new report (I will link to it when it’s publicly available; I’ll also add video when that’s available) that was released today by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) on data centers in Virginia, particularly Northern Virginia. There’s a lot of great information in here, as well as some truly eye-popping findings, such as the MASSIVE amount of energy data center growth will require, and how challenging it will be to meet that growth. Check it out.

• “Northern Virginia is the largest data center market in the world”
• Data centers have a major economic impact in Northern Virginia, although once data centers are up and running, they tend to employ a “small number of workers relative to facility size”
• Data centers mostly located close to data center customers and population centers
• Data centers use a HUGE amount of energy (e.g., one large data center can consume over 1,000 MW, more than Virginia’s largest nuclear reactor)!
• “Building enough infrastructure to meet growing data center demand will be difficult” (that’s an understatement!)
• According to JLARC, “small modular nuclear” technology isn’t expected to start coming online until at least 2035.
• “Regulatory requirements and planning reduce reliability risks from growing energy demand”
• “Data centers could take actions to help address energy impacts”
• Data center energy demand growth could lead to increases in transmission charges for residential customers, financial risks to utilities…
• “Backup generator emissions unlikely to harm regional air quality; localized effects under study”; “Most data centers use the same amount of water (or less) as an average large office building”
• “Data centers are industrial facilities that are largely incompatible with residential uses”

Today’s report comes about a year after the study resolution was authorized