Data center power lines in Loudoun County

Last month, Dylan wrote about Loudoun County, Virginia, home of the largest concentration of data centers in the world, and where data centers account for 45 percent of county revenue, lower property tax rates, and well-funded schools. But there’s a flip side playing out over the transmission infrastructure needed to power them. Dominion Energy’s Golden-Mars line, the final piece of a reliability loop, was approved by Virginia’s State Corporation Commission in April, but residents have turned out by the hundreds to fight the route, which runs near schools and homes. The county school board asked for the lines to be buried; the commission said no. County Chair Phyllis Randall captured the shifting politics: residents used to accept data centers for the tax benefits, but “now I say, ‘this is what it does for your tax rate’ and they say, ‘I don’t care.’”

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