Northern Virginia remains, by far, the largest data center market in the world, according to a new report from real estate firm JLL, but the market is facing growing constraints — specifically land and availability of power.
In 2023, 1,900 megawatts of multi-tenant data center inventory was delivered, and 2,100 megawatts of single-tenant inventory was delivered. Another 1,340 megawatts is currently under construction.
Data center leasing activity in 2023 reached a record high.
The Northern Virginia data center market ended the year with 51 million square feet of gross operating data center space. That’s the equivalent of about eight Pentagons and almost 4,000 megawatts of inventory, a metric used to measure data center capacity. That requires enough electricity to power about 800,000 homes. That is three times the capacity of the world’s No. 2 data center market, Singapore.
While historically, utility provider Dominion has satisfied demand, it has struggled in recent years to keep up with the surge in power needs, according to JLL. Data centers, while generally unassuming looking from the outside, require a lot of electricity to operate.
“Data centers generate a lot of heat and they use advanced air control systems to keep their computers running cool. According to Dominion, the power capacity used by data centers doubled between 2018 and 2022. And they are forecasting it will double again by 2028,” Michael Hartnett, senior director of Mid-Atlantic research at JLL, said.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Jeff Clabaugh over at WTOP
