When It Comes To Data Centers, Talk To Someone Who Understands

Data centers are expanding as demand for digital services and artificial intelligence grows. Mike Turner has decades of experience in the nation’s largest data center market: Loudoun County, Virginia. Turner, who serves as vice chair on the county’s board of supervisors, said there are key issues local officials needs to consider as they evaluate new projects.

“Data center benefits. We are going to get $1.3 billion in tax revenue from our data centers in fiscal 27," Turner said. "It's about 45% of our operating budget, and as a result of that, our property taxes are about 25 percent lower than any other jurisdiction in the D.C. metro area."

While data centers can provide substantial local revenue, Turner said communities also need to prepare for the infrastructure needed to support that growth.

“You can see we're going to need 14.2 gigawatts by 2030," Tuner said. "That's straight line and does not account for AI. I'm betting it's going to be closer to 20 gigawatts. We have nine new power overhead transmission lines being built in Loudoun County right now to accommodate that. I personally believe that the old paradigm of generated electricity transmitted over transmission lines hundreds of miles to get to the user is probably obsolete."

Power & Water, Two Of The Biggest Questions

One of the biggest challenges is meeting future energy needs. Turner said that could reshape how data centers are powered in the years ahead.

“Exponential increase in demand for data has led to an exponential increase in demand for power, water, a delay of decommissioning of fossil fuel plants, and as we can see, an exponential increase in opposition to data centers," said Turner. "I see three scenarios going forward. Utilities will begin to cap power to the data centers. We've already seen that in Loudoun County. Technological breakthroughs will happen periodically that reduce the energy requirement, but the data centers are going to go to on-site power. That has implications for your rural communities. They are going to move to onsite power. Suffice it to say that solar and wind are not solutions for the data center community.”

Don't Sign A Non-Disclosure Agreement

Turner said communities should establish clear expectations before approving new projects.

“If you are getting data centers in your community, as a local community, you must address and resolve the following six issues: noise, power, water, emissions, setback, and appearance," Turner said. "The basic rules: make sure your land use plan comports with your zoning ordinance if you have zoning. We had a four-year gap where they didn't, and the data centers took advantage of that and built a lot of data centers without coming to us. Never allow by-right data center development. Our first 20 years, we allowed data centers to build if they were on a certain piece of land they could build without getting our permission, direct permission. That was, I say mistake, only in retrospect, we didn't know what we didn't know at the time, but in today's turbulent market, do not allow by-right development of a data center, and I believe you should never sign a non-disclosure agreement.”

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