Virginia hosts the world’s largest concentration of data centers, and is at the epicenter of debates over the industry’s future.
State lawmakers commissioned a study, published last year, to outline the industry’s impacts. Researchers found that data centers are currently paying their fair share for electricity. But the immense energy demands they’re expected to create in the coming years “will likely increase system costs for all customers, including non-data center customers,” the report concluded.
The study found that unconstrained demand largely from data centers would drive up Virginia’s energy usage 183% by 2040. With no new data centers, energy use would only grow 15%. In addition to the costs of building more power plants, the report said, utilities will also need to install more substations, transformers and distribution lines.
“They sounded an alarm that the steep increase — if this is unchecked — would quickly [raise consumers’ rates],” said state Del. Rip Sullivan, a Democrat who has been at the center of discussions over the industry’s future in Virginia.
Sullivan sponsored a bill that would have required data centers to meet energy efficiency standards to qualify for certain tax exemptions, but the measure did not advance this session. Virginia lawmakers passed a measure this session directing state regulators to determine whether utilities should create a special rate that certain customers such as data centers must pay.
Several other states are considering similar bills that aim to put data centers — or large electricity users more generally — in their own “rate class.” Proponents say that would prevent the costs of generating enough electricity for those centers from being spread to household customers.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Alex Brown over at Maryland Matters
