August & September 2026 Wires & Water Update: Virginia Is Rewriting the Rules
Virginia’s data center debate continued to evolve this summer. Communities are adopting stronger development rules, regulators are beginning to shift more infrastructure costs to data centers, and new concerns are emerging around water, power and transparency.
Closer to home, Nelson County is also considering new rules that would apply if a data center were ever proposed here.
In this update:
Closer to Home
Nelson Is Writing the Rules Before a Data Center Arrives
Nelson County is updating the rules that govern how land can be used and developed. The proposed Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance would add data centers as a new use and establish specific standards for their development. It also asks the County to consider whether data centers should be included as an allowed use at all.
Following an August 19 public open house, the draft now moves toward a pre-adoption work session and public hearings before the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.
Comments can also still be submitted through the county’s project website throughout the update process.
As data center development continues to expand into Central Virginia, the size of these projects is worth putting into perspective. Large campuses are already planned in nearby Louisa County, while UVA is expanding its much smaller research data center in Charlottesville. UVA’s planned Fontaine Data Center could eventually require around 16 megawatts of electricity. EdgeCore’s planned campus in Louisa is designed to support more than 1,100 megawatts.
THE STORY IN NUMBERS 16 MW ≈ 12,000 homes • 1,100 MW ≈ 800,000+ homes A rough comparison of the potential electricity demand of UVA’s Fontaine Data Center and the much larger EdgeCore campus in Louisa - illustrating why the size of a proposed data center matters. Sources: C-VILLE Weekly, EdgeCore and U.S. Energy Information Administration. |
The sheer number of facilities being built or proposed across Virginia is also striking.
THE STORY IN NUMBERS 1 data center for every 47 square miles Virginia’s 836 operating or planned data centers would average one for every 47 square miles of land in the Commonwealth. Though in reality, they are heavily concentrated in Northern Virginia. Sources: Cleanview and U.S. Census Bureau. |
Why this matters: Nelson has something many communities did not have when data center proposals arrived: time. Establishing clear rules now gives residents and county leaders an opportunity to decide what protections make sense before there is pressure to approve a particular project.
Want a closer look at Nelson’s proposed rules? We reviewed the proposed data center provisions - including what they address and questions residents may want to consider before the ordinance is finalized. Read the review.
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Energy & Transmission
Who Pays — and Who Lives With the Infrastructure?
Virginia regulators took an important step this summer toward requiring data centers and other very large electricity users to pay more of the cost of transmission equipment built specifically to serve them.
That’s significant because data centers require enormous amounts of electricity - and meeting that demand can mean new substations, transmission lines and power generation.
But there’s another part of this story that is easy to overlook: Virginia is hosting an extraordinary share of the physical infrastructure behind digital services used far beyond the Commonwealth.
THINK ABOUT THIS Northern Virginia has less than 1% of the U.S. population, yet hosts 25% of reported operational data center capacity in the Americas - and 13% worldwide. The land, electricity and infrastructure are concentrated here, while the digital services they support are used far beyond Virginia. Sources: Virginia JLARC, Northern Virginia Regional Commission and U.S. Census Bureau. Population comparison calculated from reported population figures. |
And paying for that infrastructure is only part of the issue. Where it goes matters too.
The proposed Valley Link transmission line offers a nearby example. The project would cross rural Virginia from Campbell County to Culpeper County, passing through communities including Buckingham, Fluvanna, Goochland and Louisa. Growing electricity demand in Northern Virginia, led largely by data centers, is a major reason the project is being proposed.
Residents along the route have raised concerns about farms, forests, views, property values and the changing character of rural communities.
THE STORY IN NUMBERS 115 miles • Towers about 12 stories tall That’s the scale of the proposed 765-kV Valley Link transmission line across rural Virginia, with typical towers around 160 feet tall. Sources: Valley Link, Piedmont Environmental Council and Inside Climate News. |
PJM, the regional organization responsible for coordinating the electric grid across Virginia and neighboring states, is also considering new rules that would require some large new electricity users to bring or pay for additional power resources - or agree to reduce their electricity use during periods of extreme strain on the grid.
Why this matters: Nelson does not have to host a data center to be affected by Virginia’s data center growth. New transmission lines and power generation can extend those impacts far beyond the communities where the facilities are built.
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Air Quality, Water & Public Health
Beyond Cooling: Where Does All the Water Go?
Until recently, much of the discussion about data centers and water focused on cooling. This summer showed that the issue is more complicated.
A major Virginia study found that groundwater availability in eastern Virginia is declining. Soon afterward, Amazon withdrew a request to continue pumping up to 6.4 million gallons of groundwater per year for a King George County data center campus and said it would seek another water source.
Another emerging concern is wastewater.
During data center construction, water used to clean and prepare cooling pipes - sometimes called “fill and flush” water - can contain chemicals, metals or other materials that ordinary wastewater systems may not be designed to handle.
Loudoun Water, which serves more than 200 data centers, now requires testing and independently verifies certain wastewater before it can be discharged into its system.
There is also a less visible source of water use that occurs beyond the data center itself. This is separate from the water some data centers use for cooling. Data centers require large amounts of electricity, and some of the power plants that generate that electricity also use substantial amounts of water for cooling. That means part of a data center’s overall water footprint can occur far from the facility itself.
Air quality is receiving closer scrutiny as well.
Virginia DEQ has launched a special monitoring project in Northern Virginia in response to the rapid growth of data centers and concerns about emissions from backup generators and natural-gas turbines. Seven sensors in Loudoun County’s “Data Center Alley” are now measuring fine particle pollution, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide. If elevated pollution is detected, DEQ can conduct more intensive monitoring.
Why this matters: For rural communities that rely heavily on wells and limited water resources, simply asking “How much water will the data center use?” may not tell the whole story. Communities may also need to consider where the water comes from, what happens to wastewater, how electricity is generated and what happens when backup power is needed.
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Transparency & Public Participation
What Should Communities Know — and When?
Another important theme this summer is when communities learn about data center projects and how much opportunity residents have to participate in decisions.
New reporting has brought greater attention to the use of nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, between data center developers and local governments. These agreements can limit what officials are able to tell the public while projects are being negotiated.
THE STORY IN NUMBERS ~ 81% University of Mary Washington researchers found NDAs in 25 of the 31 Virginia localities they identified with an existing, approved or proposed data center — that's about 81%. Source: Virginia Mercury, reporting on University of Mary Washington research. |
At the same time, the EPA has proposed eliminating minimum federal requirements for public participation in certain state and local air permitting decisions. These permits can include data centers and their backup generators.
EPA says the change would streamline permitting and give states and local agencies greater flexibility over when and how public participation occurs. Environmental and public-health groups warn that it could reduce the information communities receive and their opportunity to weigh in.
Taken together, the NDA and air-permitting stories raise a basic question: How early should residents know about a project - and at what points should they have an opportunity to participate?
Why this matters for Nelson: Nelson County's proposed ordinance would require a public hearing before a data center could be approved, giving residents an opportunity to weigh in. But a public hearing may reach only a small portion of the people who could be affected. As Nelson finalizes its rules, should the County consider broader ways to inform and involve residents earlier — reaching beyond those who typically attend public meetings — while there is still time for community input to shape a proposal?
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Wires & Water & Watson [NEW]
AI May Be Closer to Home Than It Seems
You may have been using AI for years without realizing it. If your email has filtered spam, a navigation app has predicted traffic on your drive, or your phone has recognized your face, you’ve already encountered forms of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
AI is also increasingly being used in agriculture to monitor crops, identify pests and disease, manage water and predict yields - including technologies relevant to vineyards and orchards like those found throughout Nelson County.
What’s changing is the scale. Today’s AI offers enormous potential - from improving health care and scientific research to helping farmers use resources more efficiently - but its rapid growth also raises questions about energy and water use, environmental impacts, infrastructure, ethics and how the technology is used.
THE STORY IN NUMBERS About 50% of all new electricity demand Data centers are expected to account for about half of the growth in U.S. electricity demand through 2030. AI is one of the major forces driving that growing data center demand. Source: International Energy Agency, as discussed on Freakonomics Radio |
Could the Data Centers of the Future Be in Space?
The demand for computing power has become large enough that researchers and companies are exploring an extraordinary idea: putting AI data centers in space.
In space, proponents envision using abundant solar energy without connecting to an electric grid on Earth. But getting there would introduce an entirely different set of challenges, including launching enormous amounts of equipment and the associated environmental impacts, getting rid of the heat computers produce, radiation, cost and maintaining equipment hundreds of miles above Earth.
A recent Freakonomics Radio episode, “Should A.I. Move to Space?”, explores whether the idea could actually work and what the growing demand for AI computing says about the infrastructure needed to support it.
THE STORY IN NUMBERS 10 kW → ~140 kW per rack Conventional data center racks (a cabinet of computer servers) may use around 10 kilowatts, while today’s high-density AI systems can exceed 140 kilowatts per rack - helping explain why AI is accelerating demand for electricity and cooling. Source: Schneider Electric |
Why this matters for Nelson: Whether data centers ever move into space isn’t really the point for Nelson. What’s striking is that demand for computing has grown enough that ideas this extraordinary are being seriously considered. Here on Earth, that same growth is helping drive decisions about data centers, power generation and transmission infrastructure in Virginia.
Wires & Water & Watson: As AI drives growing demand for data centers, we’ll highlight developments that could change their land, water and energy impacts - when there’s something worth watching. And Watson? That’s a nod to the IBM AI system that famously competed, and won, on Jeopardy back in 2011.
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What You Can Do
Follow Nelson’s zoning update. Nelson County’s proposed Zoning & Subdivision Ordinance is still moving through the public process. Review the draft, submit comments, and watch for upcoming Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors hearings. Read the Friend's of Nelson Review.
Speak up about transparency by sharing your thoughts on NDAs and data center projects. Advocates are collecting public input about the use of nondisclosure agreements in data center development.
Join Virginia’s energy conversation. Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi’s Energy Costs Listening Tour is visiting communities around Virginia as the state considers electricity costs and other major changes affecting Virginia’s energy system.
Learn More
Nature Forward offers a seven-session, self-guided course covering the impacts of data center development and ways communities can advocate for more responsible development. Free recorded webinars are also available.
Explore JLARC’s Data Centers in Virginia study. Virginia’s nonpartisan Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) conducted one of the most comprehensive studies of data center development in the Commonwealth, examining electricity demand, costs, water, land use, noise and other impacts.
Explore DEQ’s data center information. Virginia DEQ provides information on environmental issues associated with data centers, including its new air-quality monitoring project in Northern Virginia.
Looking Ahead
August brought more than another round of data center announcements. Virginia is beginning to change how it responds to data center growth.
Communities are strengthening local rules. Regulators are reconsidering who pays for new infrastructure. Water and public health questions are expanding. And the rapid growth of AI is adding urgency to decisions about how much new energy infrastructure Virginia will need - and where it will go.
For Nelson, these developments make the current zoning discussion especially timely. Decisions being made now can help determine how our community responds if data center development - or the infrastructure needed to support it - comes closer to home.
Residents still have an opportunity to review the proposed ordinance, share comments and participate as it moves toward public hearings and adoption.
YOUR TURN What surprised you most in this update? Tell us in the comments. We would love to hear from you! |
Wires & Waters updates by Erin Palmquist for Friends of Nelson
Have a question, story or issue you think we should cover? Email Erin at WiresAndWaterUpdate@gmail.com.
About Wires & Water
I established Wires & Water when the Friends of Nelson board recognized that residents wanted more information about data center development. I took it on because I care deeply about Nelson’s rural landscape and natural resources, and about residents having a meaningful voice in decisions that could affect them. Virginia — and increasingly our region — is on the precipice of significant change as data centers, AI and the infrastructure needed to support them expand. I believe this is an important time to understand what is happening, ask questions and help shape that change rather than simply react to it later.
These updates draw on reporting from local, state and national news organizations, public records, government and regulatory sources, research organizations, newsletters including Data Center Watch, internet research, and AI-assisted research and drafting tools.
A note about my use of AI: My use of AI is intentional, but so is my interest in examining its impacts. I believe AI can be an extraordinarily valuable tool, and I use it regularly in researching and developing Wires & Water. At the same time, its growth raises important questions about ethics, accountability and the environmental sustainability of the data centers that support it. Slowing the pace of data center development can give communities and policymakers more time to understand those impacts, establish appropriate safeguards and make thoughtful choices about how we use this rapidly evolving technology.
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