It will be “very difficult” for Virginia to build enough power plants and transmission infrastructure to meet growing energy demand from data centers through 2040, according to a recent report from state officials.
As one of the world’s largest clusters of data centers, Virginia is a critical case study of how the industry could remake the energy sector nationally. According to the report, Virginia data centers currently use enough power annually — 5,050 megawatts — for 2 million homes, and that demand could double within the next 10 years.
If demand grows on the high end of expectations, “new solar facilities would have to be added at twice the annual rate they were added in 2024, and the amount of new wind generation needed would exceed the potential capabilities of all offshore wind sites that have so far been secured for future development,” said the report, which was released in December by the state’s Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission. The panel includes 14 elected members of the Legislature along with other state officials.
The commission concluded a large 1,500 megawatt gas plant would need to come online roughly every 1.5 years to meet expected demand from data centers. JLARC commissioned the consulting firm Energy + Environmental Economics to produce the analysis.
