The Washington Post reports on the new situation in Virginia:
There, massive data centers with computers that process nearly 70 percent of the world's digital traffic will be unsustainable unless two things happen, according to officials who oversee the power grid. It's consuming electricity at the speed you say. That would require cutting through neighborhoods and building hundreds of miles of new power lines. Farms in Virginia and three neighboring states. And older coal-fired power plants that were scheduled to be shut down will have to stay online to meet growing power demand, undermining clean energy goals…
The $5.2 billion effort has fueled a backlash against data centers across the region, and Virginia officials have warned that the industry, long cultivated for the hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue it brings to local communities, has a deeper impact. We are starting a study on the impact. Critics say it would impose enforcement on nearby residents. [West Virginia] Coal-fired power plants will continue to coexist with toxic pollution, but ironically, they will help Virginia as it fully embraces clean energy. And utility ratepayers in affected areas will be forced to pay for the plan in the form of higher bills, critics say. But PJM Interconnection, a regional power transmission operator, argues the plan is necessary to maintain the reliability of the power grid as fossil fuel plants have closed in recent years in the wake of the nation's transition to clean electricity. are doing. A $5.2 billion transmission line will be built across four states that will rely on coal-fired power plants that would otherwise have been shut down to prevent power grids from shutting down due to a surge in energy demand. The plan will focus on northern Virginia, passing through farms and neighborhoods. The ever-growing data center industry means that by 2030 he will need enough additional energy to power 6 million homes…
There are currently nearly 300 data centers in Virginia. Amazon Web Services is expanding its $35 billion data center in Virginia, making the state's rural areas the industry's latest development target. This growth means big revenue for an area with buildings the size of soccer fields.loudon [County] It collects $600 million a year in taxes on computer equipment in buildings, making it easier to fund schools and other services.prince william [County]the second largest market, attracts $100 million annually.
The article adds that, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, a single data center “can require 50 times more power than a typical office building.” “A typical multi-building data center complex would require 14 to 20 times more power.” ”
One small power company even told the grid operator that its data centers were already consuming 59% of the electricity it produced.