Data Centers Face Seven-Year Wait for Power Hookups in Virginia

(Bloomberg) -- Dominion Energy expects the time it takes to connect large data centers to the electric grid to increase by one to three years amid a surge in requests, bringing the total wait time to as long as seven years.

The longer wait time applies only to large data centers that need more than 100 MW of electricity and won’t affect projects that have already been evaluated, according to a letter the company’s transmission arm sent to its regulated utility as well as co-ops and local utilities. Almost all loads that big in Dominion’s territory are data centers. 

Dominion is the electric utility in northern Virginia’s so-called ‘Data Center Alley’, the world’s biggest hub for the facilities.

Utilities across the US are facing the biggest demand jump in a generation, with the electric grid strained by the data centers that run AI computing, new factories, and the electrification of everything from cars to home heating.

The extra year to three-year wait comes on top of the three to four years the process has previously taken, a Dominion representative said Thursday. That means the wait for power will now be roughly four to seven years.