An earlier version of this story referred to the State Corporation Commission approving a substation, but the SCC approval only incorporates transmission lines.
As plans for the first phase of data centers have been submitted in Lincolnia just outside Alexandria city limits, residents are focusing opposition on an electric substation under review.
By SARAH RANKIN Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia, the world’s largest data center hub, has released a long-delayed study that examined the state’s eastern region groundwater supply and the resource-hungry industry’s possible impact on it, finding declines are likely in a critical aquifer due to population growth and industrial use, and urging stricter regulations.
Optimism among Northern Virginia business leaders is improving, although some expressed worries about taxes and the state’s approval of a paid family and medical leave program.
That’s according to the second-quarter 2026 Business Leader Survey released last week by the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce and public relations firm Pinkston, revealing the sentiments of the region’s CEOs, senior executives and business owners.
Plans to grow Northern Virginia’s economy are showing progress, but rising housing costs and infrastructure demands could threaten the region’s long-term competitiveness, a new report says.
Released earlier this week by the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce (NVC), the 2026 NOVA Roadmap Progress Report assessed the region’s economic strengths and challenges.
An office complex in Tysons that currently hosts some data centers could become exclusively devoted to processing digital data, if its current owner secures Fairfax County’s approval.
Serverfarm, a California-based operator that appears to be making its first foray into the D.C. region, applied earlier this year for a special exception that would allow it to replace the existing, “groaning” office buildings at 7990 and 7980 Quantum Drive with a “completely modernized” data center.
Rebuffing concerns raised by residents on both environmental and transparency grounds, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has approved the sale of 41.7 acres of county-owned land in Chantilly for development as a data center.
Without making any comments, the supervisors voted 9-0 on Tuesday (March 17) to sell part of the police department’s training facility at 3721 Stonecroft Blvd to Starwood Capital Group under the name SCG Capital Holdings LLC.
A dispute over ending a sales tax exemption on data centers stood in the way of the Virginia General Assembly passing a state budget passing before its regular session ended.
Over the past 18 years, Virginia became the world’s largest data hub, but community opposition to data centers has swelled. Most recently, in Fairfax County, environmental groups are questioning plans to sell part of a county-owned parcel at 3721 Stonecroft Blvd in Chantilly to data center developer Starwood Capital Group.
Data centers present both opportunities and challenges, and at a recent regional meeting, local leaders were urged to become acquainted with both, regardless of whether their jurisdictions are directly impacted.
“Don’t ever have a conversation of ‘all-good’ or ‘all-bad’ — there are a lot of nuances,” Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall said at a March 11 meeting of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG).
By OLIVIA DIAZ and MARC LEVY Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Nearly two decades ago, Virginia gave tech companies a tax break on equipment and software, and they began to build. The state became a data center hub, and they kept building. Residents bemoaned the noise while they built some more. Artificial intelligence boomed, and the power grid strained — still, more building.
A coalition of environmental advocacy organizations is asking Fairfax County officials for more information about the proposed sale of 42 acres in Chantilly to a data center developer.
County supervisors have set a March 17 public hearing to consider selling a portion of the county-owned parcel at 3721 Stonecroft Blvd where the Fairfax County Police Department has several training facilities.
