Data Center Power Demand Almost Doubled in Virginia, Utility Says
(Bloomberg) -- The biggest utility in Virginia, home to the global hotspot Data Center Alley, saw demand from data centers in development almost double in the last half of 2024.
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Total data center power capacity under contract with Dominion Energy Inc. in Virginia, which includes projects from preliminary to advanced stages of development, increased to 40.2 gigawatts in December from 21.4 gigwatts in July, the company said on its earnings call Wednesday.
Demand for power is surging with the development of data centers and artificial intelligence, along with manufacturing and the increasing electrification of the economy. Northern Virginia, which has the biggest concentration of the facilities in the world, has earned the nickname of Data Center Alley.
Dominion still expects big demand growth even after Chinese AI company DeepSeek upended some of those expectations last month when it released a model that appeared to be much more energy efficient.
'What's undeniable is that data center growth in Virginia is not slowing down. In fact, it's accelerating,' Dominion Chief Executive Officer Bob Blue said on the call.
Blue acknowledged the spike in requests was likely boosted by a system the company instituted in August to evaluate new requests for power in batches in the order they're received.
Developers reimburse Dominion for costs. One gigawatt is roughly the output of a nuclear reactor and can power about 750,000 homes.
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