Data centers need a lot of power, big buildings, and cooling systems in order to process the big needs of AI and cloud storage. Proponents of the facilities in Albemarle County say they will diversify the economy. But detractors argue they will increase costs for Virginians. WMRA’s Sara Prince has this overview.
The issue isn’t whether Albemarle County will be getting data centers. The question is how these massive facilities will be regulated in Albemarle County. The man at the head of the regulatory discussion is Bill Fritz, the county's development process manager. This summer, Fritz addressed community concerns about the forthcoming data centers at an open house in Charlottesville, attended by about 40 residents.
BILL FRITZ: There were people who were making comments about the cost of electricity and we had to explain, our ability to regulate is limited, and does not include things such as power demand, where that power comes from, who provides the power… those kinds of things.
However, there are other areas that can be regulated.
FRITZ: One of the best examples I could give you is noise. We’re doing all sorts of research to see what best practices are, and what’s happened in other jurisdictions, and try to learn from the success and failures in other jurisdictions. We found some really nice language in Fredericksburg about getting a sound study prior to the approval of the project, and then having testing done post-development.
Mar Hicks is a historian of technology and associate professor at the School of Data Science at the University of Virginia and says noise is just one aspect of concern around data centers.
MAR HICKS: I do think that there's legitimate concern about what these non industrial - industrial sites are going to do to the communities in which they're situated, and part of that has to do with where they're getting the energy.
Unfortunately, as Fritz says, that is not something Albemarle County can regulate. But Fritz says they can limit the need to build more high voltage transmission lines by using what’s already available - substations, for example.
FRITZ: That’s where you step the power down.
So - when deciding where potential data centers could go, Albemarle County is considering where the high voltage transmission lines are and putting them on property currently crossed by high voltage lines.
FRITZ: Which means you could extend from that high voltage transmission line without having to cross residential areas.
Fritz says that substations pull power off the high voltage lines to a lower, usable level that can be distributed locally. And since the distances are less, there’s less strain on the power plants. But, Hicks says the power needed for high voltage lines is a concern because the majority of power that Virginia gets is from natural gas. And that’s because there’s simply not enough renewable energy to go around.
HICKS: The more that we see these really energy intensive applications like data centers, the less likely that becomes. So, there is definitely a very legitimate concern that this is going to increase the stress on power production grids in Virginia, and nationwide because we go to the national grid when we don't have enough on the state grid. It’s going to affect what consumers can get in times of high load, in times of emergency, and how much they pay for that energy.
According to a study conducted by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, reliable and cheap energy, plus a state tax incentive, are among the factors making Northern Virginia the largest data center market in the world. The explosion of data centers state-wide has driven up demand for electricity from Dominion Energy, which has to cover expensive infrastructure updates. That means, nearly 2.8 million customers in Virginia may see changes in their utility bills.
HICKS: Almost certainly there are going to be increases for consumers.
So, is the technology worth the price? Hicks says it comes down to cloud storage, and AI applications use incredible amounts of it.
HICKS: There's this huge push to ramp up for the expectation that AI is going to be the new tech boom, and hopefully, not the new tech bubble. In a future where things don't go exactly the way the tech industry wants them to go, we may end up with essentially empty warehouses of data centers in the best case scenario, and in the worst case scenario, what will happen is other things will absorb that capacity. And that's not necessarily a great way to build your economy.
Albemarle County’s Board of Supervisors are currently reviewing proposals addressing zoning, locations, and water use requirements for the data centers.
Find the latest updates on Albemarle County's data center developments here.
