A look at the numbers: Can Dominion supply electricity needed to operate PWDG? Reader doubts grid will hold up
September 16, 2022
Dear Prince William County:
The Comprehensive Plan Amendment (CPA) 2021-00004 states that 27.6 million square feet of data centers (DCs) are being requested/planned. Doing some simple math using the range of electrical requirements above, the Prince William Digital Gateway (PWDG) will require between 6,500 Megawatts (MW) and 8,400 MW of electric capacity.
Currently, Dominion’s North Anna Nuclear Power Station has a pair of nuclear reactors with the capability of producing about 950MW each. Dominion reports that this is about 17 percent of the total power needed for the entire Commonwealth of Virginia.
More simple math yields that the PWDG will require the total electrical power output of between nearly seven and nearly nine nuclear reactors the size of each North Anna Power Plant operating at full capacity. The electrical power requirements for the DCs in the PWDG will require the equivalent of 58 percent to 75 percent of the TOTAL electrical power requirements for the entire Commonwealth of Virginia.
Another equivalency from Dominion’s website shows that the PWDG power requirements will be the equivalent to powering between 1.5 million homes and two million homes.
Currently, in western Prince William County (PWC) per figures from the PWC Finance Office, there are about 6.5 million square feet of operating DCs with another 40+ million square feet of DCs in planning. The entire DC electrical power requirement will be the equivalent of 150-200 percent of the current electrical power load for the entire Commonwealth of Virginia.
My concern is whether Dominion Power (with NOVEC) will be able to supply that level of power with existing voltage power transmission lines and prevent blackouts in our area.
Data indicates that a massive increase of electrical transmission line capacity and new substations will be needed to carry the electrical power from its generating source to the PWDG.
Perhaps hundreds of miles of new power transmission lines will be needed, further staining the viewsheds of Virginia and Maryland. But worse is that the cost for this infrastructure will ultimately be paid for by the residential and other business electrical users in significant rate hikes and/or grants from the Commonwealth (which also come from the residents).
Basically, every voter in PW County will experience a rate hike in their electric bill and/or taxes.
I urge Prince William Board of County Supervisors to DELAY any vote on the CPA2021-00004 PWDG, until they KNOW the FULL impacts of the electrical loads and costs on our county, our Commonwealth, and the stability of the electrical grid for the northeastern part of the USA.
John W. Lyver, IV
Ph.D., LCDR USN Retired
Gainesville, VA 20155