News Links: Supervisors Face Data Center Overlay as Dominion Warns the Grid Is Strained
Prince William supervisors return this week to a data center overlay vote as Dominion’s contracted load tests the regional grid, nearby voters weigh a school-construction sales tax, and Labor Day travel rules take shape on I-95.
Vega Weighs Data Center Overlay, Judicial Center as Supervisors Return
According to InsideNoVa, Coles District Supervisor Yesli Vega said she has not yet taken a position on how long a grace period should last if the Board of County Supervisors ends by-right data center development in the Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District. The Planning Commission will rehold its public hearing Sept. 9 after a notice problem, and the board is scheduled to consider the zoning text amendment Sept. 22; Vega called the end of litigation over the PW Digital Gateway “a sigh of relief” after QTS dropped its Virginia Supreme Court appeal and said she still supports keeping land-use decisions with local governments rather than Richmond.
Vega said the county is prepared to adapt on the planned $233 million judicial center expansion at the Old Bennett School in Manassas once results of a ground-penetrating radar study for possible Civil War graves are shared, and she credited community opposition with killing the Route 28 bypass while backing Yorkshire Small Area Plan revitalization. She has not decided whether to seek reelection in 2027 against School Board member Lisa Zargarpur and said campaign contributions, including large donations to her PAC from data center developers, do not influence her votes.
Dominion Contracts 51 Gigawatts for Data Centers as Virginia Grid Faces Peak Strain
According to a report in Virginia Business, Dominion Energy has contracted 51 gigawatts of power for data centers, with another 20 gigawatts or more in the interconnection queue, as Virginia hosts nearly 650 facilities — the most of any state. Ahead of the July Fourth heat wave, regional grid operator PJM directed utilities to prepare to cut power to data centers and the U.S. Department of Energy issued an emergency order allowing fossil-fuel backup generation; demand reached the second-highest level PJM has recorded, and Dominion hit a company record in Northern Virginia’s Data Center Alley and other hotspots.
Former FERC Chairman Mark Christie said the near-miss shows the reliability crisis is “right across the street,” while Dominion has raised its capital investment plan to $65 billion through 2032 and says it will add data center load only as fast as it can serve it reliably. The State Corporation Commission has ordered the utility to draft a policy requiring large-load customers to pay for dedicated transmission lines and substations, and Dominion will charge higher rates to customers using 25 megawatts or more beginning Jan. 1, 2027; critics including Clean Virginia say the build-out is already raising costs for all Virginia ratepayers.
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