Steve Precker, Dominion electric transmission communications consultant, gives a presentation to the board of supervisors Tuesday about providing power to the Amazon data center in Stevensburg.
Allison Brophy Champion
Fueled by data center development, Dominion Energy projects a 214% growth in power demand in Northern Virginia over the next four years, according to a power delivery presentation for Culpeper County given to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
On the southern fringes of NOVA, Culpeper industry will contribute to that increasing energy demand with its approved Amazon data center slated for construction on a former horse farm along State Route 3 in Stevensburg.
That’s not to mention several other data center projects increasingly knocking on Culpeper’s door in the incentive-laden McDevitt Drive technology zone, shared by the town and county.
County supervisors, at the meeting Tuesday, pressed Dominion executives for specifics on bringing electricity to the massive projects that have proliferated to the north in Loudoun County, generating negative headlines.
Dominion plans to hold a community meeting on the electric project in October and is mailing out postcards and route maps to neighbors, he said, referring people to dominionenergy.com/germanna. Neighbors are invited to come and speak with subject matter experts at the upcoming meeting, Precker said.
“We know this area has a lot of culturally and historically significant sites. Everything we are looking at takes that into account to minimize impact.”
Whether the transmission towers, and in what form, will come from the south or the north is undetermined, Precker told the board. Only one new line will be needed to serve the data centers, he added.
He showed a slide of Dominion power pole types: lattice, H-Frame and monopole. Monopoles can reach heights of about 120 feet, but use less right-of-way than H-Frames, about half as tall, according to Precker.
“We really want to understand community priorities,” he said of involving the board of supervisors and public. “We need to document everything in the area and understand and taking into consideration for potential impacts.”
Data center customers typically consume 60 to 90 megawatts of power or greater, Precker told the board. A single megawatt can power 250 homes, he continued.
According to a presentation with Sarah Marshall, Dominion Energy manager of state and local affairs, the electric company intends to serve the high-consumption users by building more lines, putting up more and larger towers and constructing additional substations.
“What we need to provide reliable and consistent power to those customers and surrounding areas means substations, power lines to carry those amounts of loads … we’re looking at a very rapid and significant increase in load growth locally and across Virginia over the next 15 years,” Precker said.
Dominion projects 5% growth in demand for power annually, Precker stated. He said the Dominion planning group is constantly evaluating the best routes to bring power to data centers.
Dominion is also currently working in Culpeper, building middle mile fiber that All Points Broadband will use to bring high speed internet to people in rural areas. Marshall said 36 of 54 miles are under construction with completion of the fiber backbone anticipated by later this year. The hookups by All Point will come shortly after, she stated.
Stevensburg Supervisor Susan Gugino asked if the Cirrus-Keyser project was being built to serve future power demands in that corridor, on the town’s edge. Five data center campuses are proposed along McDevitt, she said.
“Is this going to be enough for all of them?” Gugino asked. Projections for the future of AI computing will make the demand even greater, she added.
“I would hate to see us upgrade and then in five years have to upgrade again.”
Precker responded the project was being built to meet demands as they exist now. Additional data centers will likely require additional power lines and substations based on the load needed.
Gugino, who voted against the Amazon data center, said a big concern of hers is Dominion is not planning for today and tomorrow, only yesterday.
“I don’t want to see these lines keep popping up out of nowhere. It’s just a big black hole of what the power is, how large the substation is … we need you guys more into the conversations on that.”
Marshall said she would be happy to work with county staff to provide input and estimates on the projects. Both Dominion executives said the company cannot build infrastructure based on potential projects.
Projects have to be approved before their process can start, requiring sometimes a year or more before SCC approval, they stated.
Catalpa Supervisor Paul Bates, who voted for the Amazon data center, expressed concern about the level of data center projects seeking to locate here — close to 8 million square feet, he said.
“As a longtime resident, we don’t want to see those (power) lines going everywhere,” Bates said.
He lamented historical sites around the future Amazon site — the colonial mansion at Salubria and Hansbrough Ridge, a Battle of Brandy Station historical landmark. Bates said he didn’t realize running a power line to a data center was considered a transmission line. The supervisor said he hoped it wouldn’t come to eminent domain — taking someone’s property to build a data center.
Marshall was quick to respond, “We don’t want to see that either.”
Bates said he hoped Dominion would consider underground lines.
“Don’t have to deal with view shed issue,” he said, adding, “This is something I should have thought long and hard about — how it will impact landowners to serve these customers.”
Marshall said Dominion would look at all the options on how it would get power to Amazon, impacts to historic and environmental resources and cost to customers.
“We are required to serve (power customers),” she said. “If it comes, we have to serve it.”
Bates said he hoped Dominion would take advantage of the utility-scale solar project approved adjacent to the Amazon site. Precker said they had been in discussion with the solar developer about potentially tapping into that power.
Allison Brophy Champion: 540/825-4315