Virginia orders data centers to pay for dedicated new electric infrastructure

This is something, but it is not enough. I live in Virginia. Virginia has been increasingly importing more and more electricity from West Virginia (coal) and Pennsylvania (natural gas) to power new data centers. Between 2019 and 2023, imports grew 61% [1]. Even though Virginia has been building out solar and offshore wind, between 2023 and 2025 low carbon electricity (renewables + nuclear) actually decreased as a % of the energy mix (28% to 26%) [2]. Virginia won’t commit to building the clean energy generation needed to power the data centers and it won’t build fossil fuel powered generation (which is on paper something I agree with). So it imports the electricity that is both dirty and expensive, and we pay for it. It’s the coward’s way out.

[1] https://cardinalnews.org/2025/01/21/virginia-now-imports-mor...

[2] https://lowcarbonpower.org/region/Virginia

Sometimes is hard to understand what really happens for me. So regular people compete on price with companies? That is wild. Here the industry in general is the first one to get disconnected from power if there is not enough. This also creates an incentive for people with money to solve the power generation problem that they themselves created.

Its only fair. We shoudlnt socialize costs for things where the profit will be private

Which makes me think of publicly owned data centers. Interesting thought

The sooner cities and states start negotiating adversarially with companies that want to set up infrastructure in their state, the sooner we'll all be happier with the way things work.

If you want to be a part of my community, you need to obviously be giving at least as much as you take. And none of this can be theoretical in terms of what you're offering. Theoretical == non-existent.

Now this is the pragmatic solution. Very clever

Virginia also has a tax on electricity, targetting data centers. https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertszczerba/2026/07/13/power...

I'm not sure what the status is, getting hard to find out amid so much noise & public coverage that's just blathering heads mostly, but, for the longest time & in many places, data centers were getting charged at industrial rates for power, which is intentionally kept super low to encourage industry. The thought that they are paying vastly less as everyone else's prices goes up is a bitter detestable situation. I am nowhere near as anti-data center as most, I want these things actually, but it feels like it's such a strong example of elite revolt, of people being totally paved over by the rich and powerful, who have so effectively managed to buy out the system of governance in so many ways.

Yes! Yes! Make a lot of data centers but make them build out new power renewable generation to power them.

So now every data center will have run their own wires? The city will be covered in transmission towers, wires, substations. To place new transmission wires, they’ll have to cut down some forest or demolish something.