What Alberta can learn from ‘data centre alley’
The report examines Loudoun County, Virginia, known as Data Center Alley, as Alberta studies how to develop its own data center industry. Loudoun officials describe major tax benefits but warn that data centers have also contributed to brownouts, noise, air pollution and other community impacts.
Loudoun County, Virginia, has become the world’s largest concentration of data centers, with 233 buildings as of March and roughly $1 billion in annual revenue for the county. Julie Briskman, a member of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, said the revenue has helped fully fund schools but urged Alberta officials to establish zoning and regulatory protections before welcoming large-scale data center development.
The report highlights concerns over electricity demand and pollution. Alberta rules require data centers above 75 megawatts to have dedicated power sources, while some projects may temporarily connect to the grid and must reduce consumption during electricity shortages. Meta is among the Alberta AI data center projects planning backup generation. Harvard professor Francesca Dominici cited research linking pollution from a natural-gas-powered Loudoun County data center to as much as $99 million in annual health costs and three to six additional premature deaths. Briskman is also working on data center decommissioning requirements, an issue Alberta officials have not directly addressed.