Prince William Planning Commission rejects power station plan tied to data center expansion

The Prince William County Planning Commission has voted 5-3 to deny a proposal to construct a 300-megawatt power substation in Bristow, Virginia that was intended to support expanding data center operations in the area. The proposed substation site was located near the Amberleigh Estates neighborhood, where residents have already raised concerns about the health impacts, noise, and strain on the power grid from existing data centers linked to companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. As local opposition to data center development has intensified, the Virginia Senate has also recently voted to end a nearly $2 billion tax break for data centers in the state, requiring them to pay at least a 5% sales tax. Industry groups have warned this could slow data center construction statewide, while tech workers argue the data center sector has invested over $80 billion in Virginia and created thousands of jobs in the past two years. Following the Planning Commission's rejection of the substation proposal, the Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative says it is now evaluating its next steps.