Datacenter energy demand in bitbarn 'capital of the world' Virginia nearly doubled in second half of 2024

Demand for electricity from datacenters in Virginia nearly doubled in the second half of 2024, power supplier Dominion Energy said of the region, which is home to "Datacenter Alley". "We now have approximately 40 gigawatts in various stages of contracting as of December 2024, which compares to around 21 gigawatts as of July …

[fromxyzzy]

Probably also worth mentioning that they're trying to spool up a small nuclear reactor program for use in VA and export to other states.

Safer than coal, at least.

[jimlinehan]

fiction

Prescient William Gibson conceived the Eastern Seaboard Fission Authority in 1983's Neuromancer. Something has to power those AIs.

[DS999]

What is the NE going to do

If Canada cuts off the electricity flow across the border? There was some discussion of that when Trump briefly imposed his tariffs, if those come back or he does whatever smooth brained idea next pops up in his orange head trying to "pressure" them to become a state Quebec may cut off the power flow.

I guess Trump won't care if shortages cause electricity rates go up in the I-95 corridor though, they didn't vote him.

[UnknownUnknown]

Purrrrty!

“ To support this demand, Blue highlighted several ongoing projects and upgrades in the region including the construction of a 500 kilovolt transmission line expected to come online later this year. Dominion has also received SEC approval for a second high-voltage transmission line over the same capacity, which Blue expects to come online by the end of 2027.”

Even more attractive across your landscapes than Wind Turbine's.

[Ball boy]

Hard to track the net increase

Is it possible that, in the drive to outsource compute, the energy requirements of general business' IT has dropped because they're no longer running their own data centres?

I don't doubt for a second that AI has added a significant new load but I was under the impression that one of the drivers for moving to a bitbarn was that it'd reduce energy consumption at *my* site...or is the drop, in practice, so miniscule as to be not worth counting?

[jimlinehan]

fission

If Trump were serious about Stargate he'd have Putin sell us some of their reactors on the cheap. Skip the SMR halfstep altogether.

Maybe we can trade some of Ukraine's territory for one. USA!

[gaston]

At the same time consumers subsidize

As reported by the State Corporation Commission, the entity that regulates Dominion Energy pricing, residential consumers are subsidizing these data centers. Basically the capital outlays to build out the power transmission are passed on in residential electricity rates while at the same time commercial users are allowed to purchase electricity at bulk (discount) rates.

What makes this exceptionally egregious is that Dominion Energy has successfully lobbied the Virginia legislature so that consumers are disincentivized from moving off grid to solar and wind power. Virginia has some of the worse State level programs in the country for reducing residential electricity use. It has been noticed that Dominion Energy spends a lot of money buying votes in the State legislature.

With Trump in office, the expectation is that Federal alternative energy incentives will be on the chopping block making Virginia residents even more captive tenants.