(Bloomberg) — The most important utility in Virginia, residence to the worldwide hotspot ‘Information Heart Alley,’ noticed demand from knowledge facilities in growth nearly double within the final half of 2024.
Whole knowledge middle energy capability below contract with Dominion Power in Virginia, which incorporates tasks from preliminary to superior levels of growth, elevated to 40.2 GW in December from 21.4 GW in July, the corporate mentioned on its earnings name Wednesday.
Demand for energy is surging with the event of information facilities and synthetic intelligence, together with manufacturing and the rising electrification of the economic system. Northern Virginia, which has the largest focus of the amenities on the earth, has earned the nickname of Information Heart Alley.
Dominion nonetheless expects large demand progress even after Chinese language AI firm DeepSeek upended a few of these expectations final month when it launched a mannequin that gave the impression to be way more power environment friendly.
“What’s plain is that knowledge middle progress in Virginia will not be slowing down. The truth is, it’s accelerating,” Dominion Chief Government Officer Bob Blue mentioned on the decision.
Blue acknowledged the spike in requests was doubtless boosted by a system the corporate instituted in August to judge new requests for energy in batches within the order they’re acquired.
Builders reimburse Dominion for prices. One gigawatt is roughly the output of a nuclear reactor and may energy about 750,000 houses.
