Resources from the Loudoun Virtual Community Meeting on Data Centers and Energy Infrastructure – March 4, 2024

Posted on by Gem Bingol

On March 4, 2024 PEC held a virtual community meeting about the explosive growth of data centers in Loudoun County and the surrounding region and the new transmission line projects proposed to meet their energy needs. Below you’ll find links to the event recording and additional information about this issue. We also encourage folks to attend the Loudoun Board of Supervisors Public Hearing Wed. March 13 when the Board will consider the proposed Belmont Innovation Campus data center application (learn more below).

PEC is coordinating and working closely with our partners on the specific concerns arising from the proposed NextEra line. We’re also engaged, closely tracking and supporting efforts to reduce the impacts of data centers and related power infrastructure in suburban Loudoun.

PEC will also continue to track and inform the public on the state of unconstrained data center growth that is causing the lack of capacity and reliability in the grid. Public awareness and input on this critical issue are essential for there to be meaningful change to the current approach to data center development. Otherwise, communities in Loudoun and across the state will remain unprepared to weigh in on data center proposals, and new powerlines and substations (see below for ways that you can help).

Recording of Presentation

Presentation Slides

View presentation slides PDFDownload (12 mb)

Input Opportunities: 

  1. Wed. March 13 – Loudoun Board of Supervisors Public Hearing: The Board will reconsider and decide on the Belmont Innovation Campus data center application. While data center development is allowed by-right on the Belmont Innovation property along Belmont Ridge Road, the applicant is asking for special permission to almost double the square footage and the acreage. This increase would allow for more data servers, resulting in a much higher energy demand for the facility.

    Although the applicant has offered to take steps to protect neighbors and the natural environment beyond the County’s minimum requirements to increase the likelihood of approval, the proposal has many downsides and doesn’t offset its negative contribution to the energy challenge caused by the exponential growth of the data center industry. Learn more by reading the email alert we recently sent out.

    It’s time for residents to take a stand and call for a pause on more data center approvals. We hope you’ll come out and ask supervisors to reject this and all other data center proposals until the cumulative impacts are better understood and a public process is completed to determine Loudoun’s next steps when it comes to this type of development. Let us know if you can join us on March 13 to speak at the hearing or simply show up with other concerned residents.

  2. NextEra (the utility company in charge of building the western Loudoun transmission line) – Stay alert for information about NextEra’s public information sessions that we’ll be sharing through our email listserv (you’ve now been added). They are likely to be scheduled this summer and we’ll do our best to keep you informed. In the meantime, you can submit comments/questions about this project on this NexEra webpage >>

  3. Dominion Energy is continuing its stakeholder and public input meetings as it determines how and where to best route the transmission lines that have been approved by PJM  in eastern Loudoun. Substation applications will also be part of the infrastructure to support additional power for our data centers. We will share information on those public input opportunities as we learn about them.

Other resources

We encourage you to continue to talk to your friends, family and neighbors about transmission lines and data centers and pass along the information we’ve included here. The PJM process may be over but in the next few months, there will be opportunities to engage in the routing discussions with NextEra and Dominion Energy. Once routes have been submitted for approval and the SCC (Virginia State Corporation Commission) opens its public process for the lines, your engagement will again be critical. 

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or my colleagues Tia Earman ([email protected]) and Julie Bolthouse ([email protected]) if you have any questions.

Since PEC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, free and informative events like this recent community meeting are only possible with the support of people like you. Please give generously to PEC to facilitate ongoing community outreach, and push for more rational energy policy going forward.

Sincerely,

Gem Bingol
Senior Land Use Field Representative
Loudoun County
The Piedmont Environmental Council
[email protected]