"The state with the most data centers is struggling to enact laws to protect electric customers and limit the energy and environmental impacts of their explosive growth."
"RICHMOND, Va.—You might think the state that is the undisputed epicenter of global internet traffic has a leg up on managing the challenges of the artificial intelligence arms race.
So far, it’s not working out that way.
Nationwide, that push by Silicon Valley is gobbling up energy, increasing average customers’ electricity bills and threatening progress on decarbonization. In Virginia, data-center developers warned the utility Dominion Energy at the end of last year that their upcoming projects would need 40 gigawatts of electricity—the energy equivalent of increasing Virginia’s households nearly fourfold.
Dominion plans to respond by building more natural gas power plants, which could raise utility bills for households and businesses both here and beyond the Mid-Atlantic state."
Deep Vakil and Charles Paullin report for Inside Climate News September 30, 2025.
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