A look at data centers planned in the Charlottesville area
Despite Virginia having a high concentration of data centers, the Charlottesville and Albemarle County areas have few proposed sites. This is partly due to a lack of favorable conditions and the county's responsible zoning approach requiring a public process for larger data centers. However, the University of Virginia is developing a new data center, and major projects by EdgeCore and Amazon are underway in nearby Louisa County.
The Charlottesville area in Virginia sees minimal data center development, despite the Commonwealth's status as a global hub for these facilities. While other sources list a few traditional data centers within city limits, the region lacks the massive hyperscale projects common elsewhere, such as the 1.1 gigawatt campuses under construction for EdgeCore and Amazon in neighboring Louisa County.
According to Morgan Butler, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, Northern Virginia's expansive fiber networks, proximity to Washington D.C., and relatively affordable land and power make it attractive to developers. Charlottesville, however, lacks these features. Furthermore, Albemarle County's requirement for a special exception process and public review for data centers over 40,000 square feet deters developers who prioritize quick approvals over community engagement.
The University of Virginia (UVA) is an exception, planning its Fontaine Data Center with an initial capacity of 4 megawatts, scalable to 16 megawatts, at an estimated cost of $102 million. This project aims to support the university's increasing computational research demands. UVA deputy spokesperson Bethanie Glover highlighted the need for infrastructure to keep pace with advancing hardware and growing adoption of computation across all study areas, from medical research to "Digital Twins."
Butler emphasized the importance of communities adopting strong environmental standards for data centers, including clean energy use, energy efficiency, and limited water consumption and noise. He also noted recent actions by Gov. Abigail Spanberger to prevent power companies from passing data center construction costs onto consumers, a development the Southern Environmental Law Center is monitoring.