Introducing POWERLESS: Loudoun County as a Case Study for Data Centers as a Local Paradigm
“I don’t see the birds in the morning anymore.”
Gregory Pirio, a longtime Loudoun County resident, explained his experience living near a data center. Greg isn’t the only one reeling from this silent takeover. Reported complaints of operational whirring of up to 90 decibels, equivalent to the sound of a constantly running subway train, became a part of life.
A local issue turned national phenomenon, the dramatic rise of data centers is unlike any commercial buildout in recent times, particularly given the non-partisan backlash.
Data centers are the physical manifestation of the new disruptive technology: AI and the cloud
No better way to understand the concerns data centers elicit: data centers are now measured in gigawatts. Not square feet. Not gigabits. Energy.
2025 reporting from S&P Global indicates that the proliferation of data centers across the US will require three times as much power by 2030. 451 Research projects that in 2026, US data center demand will reach 75.8 GW for IT equipment, cooling, lighting, and other uses, scaling to 108 GW in 2028 and 134.4 GW in 2030.
For seamless operation, data centers rely on electrical utilities and water utilities to provide constant power and cooling. Continuity is sort of their value proposition to cloud clients. Thus, redundancy in power is necessary to prevent a large-scale business catastrophe. Furthermore, it incentivizes data centers to prioritize a low-cost, reliable power source.
The buildout has presented a force for residents to reckon with: increased energy costs and significant strain on local ecological resources.
Loudoun County, Virginia, is the optimal area for a case study on the impacts of and community response to data centers because of its unique historical position and high exposure to data centers. The increases in energy and water rates, the concealment of information, and the impacts on the environment and human health are the driving negative externalities.
Loudoun County
As of 2025, there were 199 operational data centers in Loudoun County, with 117 data centers in the development pipeline (development can range from construction to planned). Notably, the current energy consumption of data centers in Loudoun County exceeds 5 GW, meaning pipeline data centers, those that are not yet consuming resources or providing services, represent 7 GW of demand capacity.
Historically, Loudoun County has become the prime place for data center development. Due to federally encouraged projects, fiber-optic cables were built throughout Northern Virginia just before the turn of the century. This gave the region some of the lowest latency rates in the U.S., and thus a primary advantage for data center infrastructure.
Capitalizing on this potential economic interest, as part of the 2000 Revised Zoning Ordinance, Loudoun County rezoned data center build-to-suit as commercial office parks, thereby granting data centers the “by right” authority to build wherever an office park could be built. Thus, from 2009 to 2018, Loudoun County marketed itself to data center developers using these advantages. Following 2018, data center construction skyrocketed, and the county raked in billions of dollars in data center equipment and property taxes, enabling it to reduce income taxes for its residents. However, issues began to arise. In 2022, PJM Interconnection, the regional transmission operator, recognized that power demand was set to increase significantly, labeling the Dominion Energy zone, which includes Loudoun County and the surrounding “Data Center Alley”. Then, on March 18, 2025, data centers were rezoned under a Special Exception (SPEX) classification, requiring Board of Supervisors approval for construction.
As things stand, Loudoun County’s primary concern is that additional utility infrastructure driven by intense energy demand will result in stranded costs to residents. Presently, the rise in infrastructure costs, primarily transmission in Dominion’s case, is increasing Loudoun County ratepayers’ bills. Notably, while energy rates are rising across the country, Loudoun County’s rates are almost exclusively being driven by data center resource needs of the present and future. Recently, the Virginia SCC (State Corporation Commission) has reviewed Dominion Energy’s 2025 Biennial Review. Loudoun County is under a Dominion Energy subsidiary, the Virginia Electric and Power Company, which manages most of the Ashburn and Sterling area that dominates Data Center Alley.
In the review, Dominion stated its primary request was to increase revenue to $822 million in 2026 and $345 million in 2027. Based on the 2025 Dominion Energy IRP, using the Virginia SCC Directed Methodology, a Virginia resident’s monthly energy bill is projected to grow from $159.57 to $308.77 by 2035. The $160-$309 increase represents an additional $1,788 per year for a Virginia household. On the other hand, Dominion’s Company Methodology projects $255 by 2035, driven by cost spreading and new class allocation rates. Regardless, the range from $255 to $308 remains a 4-6% increase in energy bills and a yearly increase of at least $1,140.
These energy costs, although primarily driven by Loudoun County data center development, are burdened by all of Virginia’s Dominion Energy customers. Furthermore, the sudden 17% increase in data center demand (per the 2025 IRP update) reveals the capriciousness of the moment.
But the most vital lesson is the lack of transparency, evidenced by the fact that 25 of 31 localities in Virginia have signed Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) with data center companies, effectively hiding data about public resource consumption and development
The Opposition
Currently, residents push back due to concerns about:
• Energy rates
• Property values
• Community health
• Disruptive architecture (including noise and light)
But how can we quantify and compare the local impacts on residents?
This question has prompted a robust network of opposition among Loudoun County residents. Chief among them in its aggregation of information and reporting speed is the Piedmont Environmental Council, a grassroots environmental organization founded in Northern Virginia in 1972, which used community efforts to track data center development and energy infrastructure. Other organizations include the Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions, the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, and the Loudoun Climate Project. Members of these organizations and other community advocates have become a part of a larger group created by the Piedmont Environmental Council, the Virginia Data Center Reform Coalition.
Policy Shifts
There have also been a litany of policy shifts. Toward the end of 2025, the Virginia SCC locked into a new rate class, GS-5, for high-load users under Dominion Energy. Relevant customers are bound to 14-year agreements with minimum demand charges of 85% for distribution, 60% for generation, and 85% for transmission. Due to apparent reliability issues, PJM’s Board recommended an improved process of projecting demand growth, allowing faster grid connection if data centers provide their own generation (referred to as BYOG or Bring Your Own Generation), and penalizing data centers that do not implement their own generation. Notably, there are no regulations regarding the fuel source of on-site generation, meaning fossil fuel use and thus greenhouse gas and toxic air pollutants may spike.
Data Center Alley has significantly shifted the political environment in Virginia. Recently proposed bills span from emissions to energy regulation. Newly proposed bills include HB 155 and HB 906, which would require GS-5 customers to obtain a certificate of operation from the SCC to determine if grid capacity is available and if potential data centers can engage in “load flexible” energy generation. Some bills even seek to restructure the current status quo of utilities as a regulated monopoly. HB 153, HB 155, and HB 503 seek to prevent utilities from passing the costs of transmission lines and energy generation infrastructure that primarily serve data centers onto residential ratepayers.
Lessons Learned
This community dynamic highlights two gaps in the data center policy space.
1. There is a lack of data transparency. Public-grade utility infrastructure is treated as a private commercial technology asset.
2. Data centers rely on a lack of individual knowledge to deflect attention from themselves to the broader community. Residents are ill-equipped with the knowledge to resist such responses.
At a macro level, the results are clear: Loudoun County demonstrates that data centers must be reclassified as new large-load infrastructure items and approached through defensive environmental policy to prevent externalities generated by data centers, such as rising rates and increased emissions, from being shifted onto the community and residents. Loudoun County also represents that data center development is a uniquely local paradigm. The significance of resources constrained by data centers is defined by the resources within the local environment.
Moving forward, there are three steps communities must take:
1. Reclassification of data centers through local policy.
2. Prioritize transparency to residents.
3. Keep knowledge upfront.
